Giving Up
by Fulcon
Summary: In which Zuko learns airbending.
1. A Stroke of Luck

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

Prince Zuko looked out from the ruins of the Southern Air Temple. The tall, spire-like mountains the Air Nomads had called home were still enough to give the prince in exile vertigo, but only just. A cold, stiff breeze rushed past his face, slapping him with the cold of the mountain air.

Behind him, he could feel his Uncle Iroh, the short, portly general whose warm personality couldn't be more grating at times when Zuko wanted nothing more than to focus on his mission. His quest and purpose.

Zuko turned around from the view of the dizzying height below them. He saw his Uncle, waiting patiently but observing the massive temple with a contemplative smile, as if he were distracted. Again.

Behind Iroh, however, were the men. A collection of low merit and disgraced soldiers and sailors who had been sent on this mission to be die and be forgotten. They were rough, they were undisciplined and unmotivated, but they were what Zuko had.

Much to his endless frustration, when they inevitably failed to meet the prince in exile's high expectations.

"Listen up," Zuko called in his best, most authoritative tone. Trying to command the respect of the crew. "We do this the same as the other temples. Look for any hint of the Avatar. Look for potential hiding places, sanctuaries that Firelord Sozin may have missed in the initial purge. Do not disturb any of the bodies you find, even if they are fire nation. Is that understood?"

"Yes Prince Zuko," The men chorused.

At least they knew how to agree properly. "Dismissed."

It was not that Zuko _wanted_ to leave the bodies of his countrymen without their proper rites. Far from it, that was one of the first things he had his crew do when they first arrived at the Western Air Temple. What he had quickly found was that the expedition on land was starting to run low on supplies before they had finished and they had to return to their ship nearly empty handed and had to make a second trip.

The Air Nomads, for all their talk of peace and respect for life, had wiped out entire armies, even with the power of Sozin's comet. Uncle Iroh had said that Fire needed air to live, just as the power of a Firebender came from the breath; an Airbender could take both away with ease, necessitating the use of Sozin's comet so long ago.

He had made a promise that those men's funeral rites would come when he was Firelord, when he had taken his rightful place on the throne and had found his mother.

"Prince Zuko," Uncle Iroh began.

"What is it, Uncle?" Zuko asked, pointedly ignoring an itch on his scar that developed whenever he got anxious. The itch reminded him how fortunate he was to still be able to see out of his eye following his lesson on respect.

"We have been on the hunt for nearly a year now," Uncle began, following his charge as he walked into the temple.

"Yes, I know, Uncle," Zuko replied, feeling his irritation spike. "What does it matter?"

"I have noticed that the men have not been given any real shore-leave since we have started on your quest," General Iroh continued, heedless of Zuko's annoyance. "Perhaps, after our expedition here is finished, you might pull into Port at one of the Colonies and allow your crew some much needed rest and relaxation?"

Zuko felt his hands curl into fists. "Uncle, they can have all the rest and relaxation they want once we have captured the Avatar."

"Prince Zuko," Uncle Iroh began almost reproachfully. "A frayed rope snaps at the point of highest tension."

The prince growled to himself, coming to a halt and looking down at his boots on the cold stone walkways of the mountain. "Fine. Two-weeks shore leave after we're done here. But I want a _thorough_ search."

"The Lieutenant will be happy to hear it," Iroh said with a cheerful smile.

The temple, like the ones built in the east and the west, was built to be as open as possible. Nearly rail-less walkways would connect stone gazebo to stone gazebo. The paths and stairs that curled up the mountain had no railings. Once Zuko had gotten inside, he saw that the temple itself was perforated with windows to allow the monks of old to fly in and out on their glider staffs.

Not for the first time, he wished he could see one in action, if only to prove that they actually worked and the history he had been taught of their armies wasn't fiction. Though how they maintained any kind of army with how utterly undisciplined they were as a people was a mystery to him.

Actually, given how they were wiped out by Sozin's comet, perhaps the answer was self evident. Their army was a failure.

Zuko found himself looking for just a brief moment at a cluster of skeletons beneath the mountain snow, a group of children hiding behind one of their elders. As he had trained himself to do, Zuko immediately turned away and walked forward with purpose.

_Just ignore them_, Zuko thought to himself. _Just ignore them. It was necessary, nothing to be done about it now. Just ignore them._

"I wonder what an Air Nomads favorite tea would be," Iroh mused behind him, undoubtedly stroking his beard like Zuko knew he would even though he couldn't see him. "No, I remember, they liked Butter Tea. Butter from their flying bison! I still wonder what it tastes like..."

Zuko remembered the scroll that his Uncle managed to find somehow. It was just sitting there in the corner of a library, having collected a thick layer of dust and still somehow legible. Uncle Iroh's excitement and enthusiasm on the subject exotic airbender teas had gone on a week. A long, nigh-unbearable, week.

The two stopped when they came to a massive door, tubes intricately spindling their way across it like overly long serpents, connected to three separate horns that looked like sea shells.

With a deep breath, Zuko huffed in frustration. He had encountered doors like this at the other temples that he had been too, but they could only be opened by air-bending. There was no way inside other than through this door, so it was obviously a vault, but he had no idea how to open them. Firebending, by the ship engineer's guess would prove useless given how the door was made of stone.

"Maybe one day, we can see the Avatar Shrine the nomads had built," Iroh said with a smile. "I have heard tales that it was quite a sight."

"What if there's a map in there, Uncle?" Zuko asked, folding his arms and glaring up at the door impotently. "Something to show the Avatar where to go and hide while he mastered the four elements in case of emergency."

"We have found no records of any kind of map," Iroh pointed out again, making this one for one on each vault door they had found. "Nor did the generals who lead the attacks find any mention of such a thing. If there were such a map, all those places it had marked would have been scoured and put to the flame."

Zuko's glare got more focused and severe. He took a deep breath and turned to walk away. "I know."

In another life perhaps, Iroh might've found himself getting carried away with his explanation in an attempt to teach his nephew something, only to ignite his nephews short fuse and set his temper to a boil. However, he held his tongue this time.

The search through the temple was going smoothly. Zuko passed by his men doing a thorough sweep of every hallway and every bedroom. It was a steady routine that had been set, each of the men would go in, check this graveyard as quickly and efficiently as possible to avoid agitating any spirits that lingered with a grudge against the Fire Nation.

As what usually happened during this search, Zuko and Iroh found themselves searching the temple archives.

Prince Zuko always made it a point to personally inspect the archives; if there was a place that would have information on the Avatar, it would be here. The archive shelves reached from the ceiling to the floor, built in diamond formation. Each little cubbyhole could hold one scroll. Directly across from them was a massive arch that led out to the mountains below them.

Without fail, just as the previous temples had shown, their were almost no scrolls remaining. Zuko imagined that most of the scrolls these massive archives were supposed to hold contained information on Airbending itself. Which meant that the Fire Army had burnt them all in an attempt to stamp out Airbending and prevent future Avatar's from learning it; especially if they missed the 'Last Airbender' as he was often spoken of and the Avatar was reincarnated as Water Tribe.

What few scrolls remained however, concerning their history and the philosophy of the Air Nomads had rot and been eaten through by insects. They were completely illegible, which Zuko considered a shame; he needed to learn everything he could about his enemy if he wanted to stand a chance against him.

Zuko pulled a scroll out and unrolled it; it crumbled to dust in his hands and he threw it away with a huff of irritation. Over by the stone wall of the library which was completely flush with the shelves, Iroh stood. He was not looking fruitlessly at the scrolls that had completely wasted away thanks to the cruel mistress of time, but he was looking at the wall.

No, not simply looking at the wall. He was studying it. Rubbing his chin with his finger as he peered at the smooth, blank wall with narrowed eyes that seemed as if they were trying to divine the secrets of the universe through it's staring.

When Iroh hummed in fascination, Zuko couldn't take it anymore. "Uncle? What's so fascinating about that wall?"

"Well, come here, Nephew," Iroh told him, beckoning him to come forward. "Do you see it?"

Zuko's eyes narrowed as he tried to see whatever it was his Uncle was trying to show him. In another life, his temper might have already been set to a boil and he wouldn't have had the patience to do as his Uncle requested. But here, he was able to persist just long enough to...see. "There's a diamond cut into the wall."

Indeed there was. A diamond, but one that had been sealed with the same stone that had been cut out of it, sealed so tightly that the edges pressed almost completely against the walls around it and rendering it nearly invincible.

"I suspect that it is a cubbyhole much like the shelves that surround us," Iroh suggested. "Which means it might contain something valuable."

Zuko's face lit up in shock and he whirled around and saw two of the marines he brought to shore standing and spoke. "You!"

Both Marines turned and immediately bowed. "Yes, Prince Zuko?"

"Go fetch us a pickax!" Zuko barked. "Uncle has found something!"

They hurried off to follow their orders.

* * *

_One Hundred and Two Years Ago_

"Watch this!"

Aang was a young monk, dressed up in the orange and yellow robes of his people. He was bald, but didn't have the blue tattoos of those who had mastered their element. Next to him in the archives was Dorje, another monk that was a year older than him. Aang was, put politely, showing off while they had been told to fetch a scroll for Monk Samten.

They were messing around with a solid, tight wooden basket that had been carved and given as a gift to one of the monks by a woodcarver. The fun part about this box was that the lid was just a _tiny bit_ too large. Large enough that sometimes it was difficult to get the lid off if you put it on wrong.

With the flowing, circular motion, Aang put the lid on wrong by pulling all of the air out of the basket and forcing the lid to squeeze shut. "Try to get it off!"

Dorje, a taller and skinnier student than Aang tried to oblige by pulling. And pulling. And pulling. To no avail. "Why? Won't? It? Come off?"

Aang just shrugged and laughed. "I dunno. From some reason, you can't open it while there's no air in the basket."

Dorje set the basket on the ground. With one hand, he pulled on the handle. With the other, he pushed air down against the edge he was trying to pull up. After a few moments, he succeeded, the lid coming off with a loud pop. He fell to the floor and after some confusion, he started laughing too. "That's wild! We should try some stuff with this!"

"I know!" Aang answered. With a twirling motion, Aang jumped into the air and pulled the scroll he and Dorje had been sent to fetch from the top. He landed. "Alright, lets head back."

"Wait, Aang, you knocked something out of the wall." Dorje said, pointing at the wall.

"I did?" Aang asked, turning to look. "Oh yeah! Monk Giyatso told me that the Earth benders that helped build the temple were going to put in more shelves along the walls. They just barely got started before the Monks told them we had plenty. I guess they forgot to fill this one."

"I mean, they kind of started," Dorje pointed out, squatting down and picking up a diamond-shaped tiled that fell out.

Aang blinked in surprise. "That's weird. Maybe we should tell the monks."

"Yeah, probably...wait," Dorje started with a grin. "I got an idea. Let's a put something inside and see if we can close it up."

Aang stopped for a moment before a similarly mischievous grin painted itself across his face. "That sounds like a great idea. They'll never find it!"

The two started laughing. Aang began looking through the shelves. "Okay, let's grab one of the scrolls and see if it works."

"No, no," Dorje shook his head. "You know what we should do? We should hide the big one."

Aang blinked. "The big one?"

The big one. The complete compendium of Airbending penned by the first Airbenders as they learned from the Flying Bison. It was the scroll the Masters were using to teach all the students with as it had all the best teachings from all the masters rolled up into a great hole.

"Yeah, the big one!" Dorje said again, his smile only getting bigger. "Come on, it'll give us some time off from lessons while they try to find it."

"Well, I would like some time off," Aang justified to himself. "Okay, where is it?"

"Come on, I saw Monk Kelsang with it," Dorje said with a huge grin.

"We should probably get this scroll to Monk Samten though," Aang suggested. "That way they don't come looking for us later."

"Good point!"

* * *

Several hours later, the two boys reunited at the Archives, filled to the brim with nervous energy.

Aang, for his part, now looked a lot more nervous and doubtful than his partner in crime. "Are you sure about this?"

"Positive," Dorje beamed, holding the scroll. It was a really thick thing, looking more like a roll of fabric than a scroll, though it was wrapped in thick cloth to protect it. "We hide this in that compartment for a few days, get some time off while they look for it, and then we return it while no one's looking and have a good laugh."

"Well, as long as we give it back," Aang said.

Dorje carefully slid the scroll into the shelf. Both boys became increasingly aware of how tight a fit it was as they heard the sound of fabric sliding against the smooth stone. Dorje was able to push the scroll in fairly far, though.

"Okay," Dorje said, turning to Aang. "Do your thing."

They placed the tile back in place and Aang pulled all of the air out of the cubbyhole and it sealed tight.

"Alright, nice job!" Dorje complimented, pulling at the tile, his fingers finding no purchase. "Nice and secure, no ones getting at it now."

"Awesome!" Aang replied. "Let's go."

* * *

"Come on Aang, this isn't funny," Dorje told his younger accomplice, sweating bullets.

"I'm trying!" Aang said desperately, throwing streams of air at the tile. "I can't get air in there!"

But the tile would not let air in and there were no handles to grasp to give the boys leverage. The tile was stuck and the scroll was locked in there. Forever.

"Here, let me try," Dorje pushed Aang aside and started trying to force air into the compartment himself. But he was without success. "Great. Just great! I never should have let you talk me into this!"

"What?" Aang asked in disbelief. "This was your idea and-!"

"What's going on here?"

Aang's heart stopped as Monk Giyatso rounded the corner of the shelf, the old monk's white mustache moving from side to side as he twitched his mouth.

"Uh...heh...hehe..." Aang rubbed the back of his head.

They explained what had happened, for they were caught. None of the other masters were able to retrieve the scroll either, the compartment so tightly sealed no air could get inside. so they had decided to simply ask an Earth Bender to retrieve it the next time one visited the temple in a few years.

For their punishment, Aang and Dorje were made to replace the scroll, writing each stance, form, kata and their explanation under the careful and watchful eye of one of the Airbender masters, forced to reference and read every single scroll of Airbending and Airbending Philosophy as they did so. Both of them produced a scroll.

It was this learning experience that allowed Aang to invent his own Airbending technique, the air-scooter and gain his tattoos at the tender age of twelve, three years later.

* * *

_Present Day_

Zuko swung the pickax himself, breaking the tile with the steel tool. A violent hiss of air followed and the prince felt it flow past him in a violent current. With his fingers burning candlelight, he looked into the hole. "Uncle, there's something in here!"

"Can you reach it?" Iroh asked.

"I think," Zuko started, reaching into the hole and feeling his fingers brush fabric, he pulled at it. "I got it!"

He pulled the fabric, bringing the parcel toward him and gingerly pulling it out of the hole. At his gesturing, the crew members that had gathered around gave the prince space as he set it down on the ground started unwrapping it.

Zuko's unscarred eye got as wide as a dinner plate as he looked at it. "It's a scroll."

Iroh fell to one knee and reached forward, carefully and gently touching the paper. "It's fresh."

Carefully, Zuko began to unroll the ancient scroll. On it, he saw forms. Movements. Stances. Katas and their explanation. He was able to skim the philosophy of each move-set.

"It's an Airbending scroll," Zuko said, almost reverently. "Uncle, do you know what this means?"

"That we can study another form of bending on the ship?" Uncle Iroh asked.

"It means we have an advantage!" Zuko cried. "When we finally meet the Avatar, we'll be better prepared to bring him down! Uncle, we actually have a chance!"

"This is true, Prince Zuko," Iroh replied with a thoughtful nod. "Understanding your enemy is the first step to defeating him."

Zuko could not, no matter how hard he tried, stop himself from smiling, joy lighting a blaze behind his eyes. "How has the search gone through the rest of the temple?"

The Lieutenant took a step forward. "All men have reported their sweeps completed. They haven't found anything."

Zuko didn't have it in him to scowl in disappointment. "Secure this scroll and bring it back to the ship. If it's damaged in anyway, I'll have everyone's head. Then, we're heading to the colonies for two weeks shore-leave!"

The halls of the temple echoed with the cheers of the Fire Nation.

* * *

_Author's Note: This is a project and idea that's been with me for a long time now. This idea of what would happen if Zuko simply, well, as the title says, give up. First, I got to lay the groundwork for Zuko's decision because at this point in his life, him simply realizing it's hopeless would be so totally and completely out of character that it would only work for a crackfic._

_ My other projects, sadly, must be put on hold. I'm sick of the entire Self-Insert genre and, to be blunt, I'm out of my depth. I realized it when I wrote that last chapter of SHINOBI: The RPG that I am so completely, absolutely and utterly out of my depth that writing the thing wound up not being something I can do. I just have no experience with romance beyond what I've read in my self-help books and, well, there's nothing like the real thing. That said, it will be finished and I will happily answer any questions to those who PM me about what I had planned moving forward in case the worst happened._

_ I hope you guys enjoyed it!_

_ Shout out goes out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven_ and _Handwran. _You guys are awesome!_

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	2. Unexpected Information

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

The trip down the mountain strained Zuko's nerves to their breaking point. While they belayed down the side of the mountain, they had secured the scroll in a metal box packed to the brim with fabric and cushioning to prevent it from being overly jostled. But every swing of the box in the wind, each time it lightly hit the side of the mountain gave Zuko a brand new heart attack before he could recover from the old one.

Zuko's fingers felt like they were starting to blister from how often he adjusted and readjusted his grip on the ropes. He could feel a cold sweat breaking out across his forehead, making the mountain air even colder than it already was.

He kept pace with the box, slowly walking down beside it as the men above slowly lowered it with a winch above the, the rope tightly gripping the box around all four sides and tying in a thick knot right on the top.

_Just get to the bottom_, Zuko pleaded with the box. _Don't break, don't get damaged and most importantly, don't fall._

It was at that moment that Fate's trademark cruelty made itself manifest as Zuko beheld the rope suspending the crate went unbearably slack for seemingly no reason at all before the crate started to fall.

Zuko's heart actually stopped, but luckily for him, his arm did not, quickly grasping the rope and feeling the sheer weight of the package causing the hand at the back to slam against his waist in a desperate attempt to stop himself from falling to his death.

The rope he had grabbed bit into his hand and started to slide through his fingers, giving him a nasty case of rope burn. Zuko gripped the rope tighter and twisted his hand upward, stopping the crates descent.

Off in the distance, he could see the rope attached to the crate still falling down and saw the winch they had drilled into the rock above at the end, with bits of rock still attached to the bolts. It was, put frankly, much heavier than the box that Zuko was holding onto for dear life.

After a second, the rope became taught and Zuko felt something pop, sending red hot daggers into his shoulder. It was dislocated. From below, Zuko could hear the winch rapidly unwinding, the rope spinning and whipping around the device before it fell freely.

"Zuko!" Iroh shouted from behind him. "Are you alright?"

"Someone get the scroll to safety!" Zuko gasped out in pain. "I can't hold on much longer!"

Thankfully, a pair of of Zuko's men were able to hop to his side, having secured their rope to their belts. They grabbed the scroll from the Prince, which he finally relinquished with a gasp. He groaned in pain as his dislocated arm simply hung in the air, he unable and unwilling to move it.

"We need to get Zuko down," Uncle Iroh declared, starting to give orders as Zuko's own perception started to fail him.

* * *

"What – urgh – happened?" Zuko asked, grunting and hissing through the pain.

They were back at the ship. Zuko was lying down on an infirmary bed as the ships doctor bandaged his shoulder after popping it back into place and would bandage the prince's hands once he was done with that, the skin having nearly been rubbed off.

"According to the men, we had simply picked a bit of unstable ground to place the winch on," Iroh answered with a shrug. "Merely a case of poor luck. Nevertheless, the Lieutenant has already reprimanded the men responsible."

"Their mistake almost cost us the scroll," Zuko barked in anger as the doctor finished immobilizing Zuko's arm, and started bandaging Zuko's blistered and raw hands. "Where is it?"

"I had it placed in the bridge for review," Iroh replied.

"Good," Zuko breathed, already chafing beneath the bandages keeping his arm in place. "Good. How long will it take to recover?"

"It should take two to three weeks for your arm to recover," The Doctor replied as he finished wrapping Zuko's hands in bandages. "You're quite lucky that winch didn't come down on your head."

Zuko muttered something about being lucky to be born underneath his breath.

"Will that be all, Doctor?" Iroh asked.

"Yes, General," The Doctor replied with a bow. "Your highness."

"Then we will take our leave," Zuko said, quickly standing and accidentally tweaking his arm. With a muffled grunt of pain, he held his elbow gingerly and left the infirmary.

Iroh thanked the Doctor with a bow and walked to join his nephew.

While his injuries certainly cast a dour rain-pour over the prince's palanquin, he still felt fairly positive about the whole ordeal. As far as ways for the universe to screw him over and yank his prize away from him at the last possible second, that wasn't too bad.

Because he beat it.

They walked into the bridge. The bridge was just a giant square with windows built into the front, just before the helm. At the table in the center was the scroll, unwrapped and ready for Zuko to devour its contents. The Helmsman was standing at the wheel, talking with the Lieutenant about something. They both came to attention.

"Set course for the nearest colony port," Zuko ordered, sitting at the table before the scroll. "We're heading for two-weeks shore leave."

The Helmsman beamed and rapidly started prepping the ship's engines.

Zuko looked down at the scroll with excitement and trepidation. His first real break. Who knew what arcane secrets the Air Nomads had kept secreted away, what weapons of war they would bring to pass if they were still alive. The Fire Nation's dreams of spreading progress would've been halted in the cradle, Zuko knew. He had seen the bodies to prove it.

Fittingly, the Avatar, wherever he was, would be the final obstacle. Now in his hands, he had the ability to see and understand _why_ Airbending was so deadly.

With his good hand, Zuko reached forward and began to unfurl the scroll and began reading. His focus was absolute, his gaze unwavering. He would learn of these secrets and dissect them to find weaknesses in the Avatar's bending and philosophy. Zuko's best guess was that the Avatar would think he was invincible and not respect his opponent, especially since he was a master of a bending style no one had seen in over a hundred years.

He could work with that.

* * *

Iroh slowly leaned to look over Zuko's shoulder. "Find anything interesting?"

Zuko let out a breath of irritation. "None of this makes any sense."

"How so?" Iroh asked.

"Detachment?" Zuko asked incredulously, gesturing to the scroll. "Peace? Separating yourself from the problems of the world means freedom? It sounds like they were trying to glorify laziness!"

"The Airbenders were nomads, Prince Zuko," Iroh reminded his nephew. "They had no reason to embed themselves in every conflict or issue they could find. Emphasizing detachment from the world around them enabled them to float from place to place with little difficulty."

Zuko groaned, studying the scroll before him. "It explains why the Avatar hasn't come out of hiding even with the Fire Nation blazing a trail across the world; he doesn't care."

"Do not mistake detachment from the world for apathy," Iroh corrected. "A calm mind can often see what emotion cannot."

"So they had no emotions," Zuko replied, still looking at the scroll. "Except that they say that this is the path to happiness, which is an emotion."

"The happiness they speak of is not the same euphoric high one receives when having fun or getting good news," Iroh replied while reading over Zuko's shoulder. "But rather the calm assurance of not being burdened by pains such as grief or anger."

"That's stupid," Zuko grumbled, still reading. His next few words were a muttered growl meant for himself. "What is someone without their pain?"

"At peace," Iroh replied with a smile.

Zuko growled, but said nothing further, still reading. Iroh shrugged and said nothing further. When a yeoman brought a platter of hot tea, Iroh thanked him and grabbed a cup for himself.

* * *

"That is enough."

Zuko lowered his guard, the deck abandoned as the crew was out on shore leave. He was panting heavily, bracing himself against his legs. His arm was still stiff from the dislocation, but thankfully it didn't throb or ache anymore. The bandages had come off yesterday and now he had to get himself back into fighting shape.

"You have not been doing the breathing exercises," Iroh reprimanded from his perch, sipping from his cup of tea.

"They weren't helping," Zuko barked back in anger.

"Of course they weren't helping," Iroh replied sternly. "You weren't doing them!"

Zuko inhaled sharply through his nose and let out jets of flame through his nose. "I can breathe just fine, Uncle!"

"Zuko, if you could breathe just fine, you would be able to go another hour or so before running out of steam," Iroh corrected kindly. "Now come sit here, we will do them together."

"Fine," Zuko hissed, stepping up to his Uncle's mat and assuming a lotus stance beside him.

"Now inhale," Iroh instructed, and they began.

You could really tell when you were truly, really breathing. With each breath you took, you could feel a tingling in the ends of your fingers and toes at the start. After a set of deep breathes, you exhaled and simply stopped breathing for however long you could stand it. Once you did that, you inhaled and held it before releasing it and repeating the whole process over again. With each repetition, the tingling feeling traveled from your fingers and toes up your arms and legs, growing more severe and pronounced until it felt like your whole body was strongly tingling.

Zuko thought the feeling was like a million little candles being lit within his body. It was euphoric feeling, one that could make it very hard to be anything but mellow for a few minutes. It felt nice, but it wasn't the roaring wildfire that he needed to consider it a benefit to his bending.

Especially not when he could be doing something like drills.

"Alright," Iroh said after the final exhale. "We are finished."

"Thank you, Uncle," Zuko stood up and bowed. Helpful or not, it still felt good.

"Now hold on a moment, Nephew. I had an idea while we were breathing," Iroh said, smiling and standing up himself. "I thought it might be a good idea to try out some of the katas. From the Airbending scroll?"

Zuko blinked. "Why?"

"It would help you understand the forms that you can expect from the Avatar when we meet him," Iroh answered with a thoughtful smile. "Performing an action makes it much easier to understand that action."

"That...is a good point," Zuko replied with some surprise.

"Besides, I have been curious as to what a firebender can do with a greater knowledge of the other forms of bending," Iroh confessed with a jolly expression.

"Uncle," Zuko started, looking confused and more than a little annoyed. "You can't learn to firebend from a waterbender."

Iroh blinked in surprise, then smiled in a way that Zuko had never seen before; smugly. "No, you can't. But you can learn tricks from them to turn the tide into your favor."

"Like what?" Zuko asked, exasperatedly.

"The power to redirect lightning," Iroh replied. "I learned that by observing Waterbenders."

"Uncle, lightning bending was rediscovered by Grandfather Azulon during the battle of Serpent Pass," Zuko pointed out with irritation. "Against the Earth Kingdom. He didn't get it from water benders."

Iroh looked more than a little disappointed. "That's not what I said, Prince Zuko."

Zuko's eyes narrowed, looking from side to side to figure out what in Agni's name his Uncle was talking about. When it hit him, his eyes widened. "You can defend against lightning?"

"Indeed I can," Iroh replied, turning to walk in the direction of the bridge. "But that can come at a later time. For now, I want to practice these katas first hand."

Zuko huffed in irritation, but followed his uncle.

* * *

The scroll had been brought to the bridge and set on the table, allowing Zuko and Iroh to look at the stances and movements with clarity. Each movement felt oddly uncomfortable as they forced his spiritual energy to move and go places it didn't normally go.

"Interesting!" Iroh seemed pleased with himself. "These movements almost feel soothing. What do you think, Prince Zuko?"

"They're very..." Zuko took a moment to complete the current movement before continuing. "Circular."

"Lots of negative jing," Iroh noted. "Well suited for defense and evasion."

"We'll need to watch and make sure the avatar doesn't run when we find him," Zuko realized blinking with the realization, stopping his movement, the kata complete "If these techniques are even half as effective as described, he might be impossible to pin down without careful planning."

"Or a lot of luck," Iroh added, still going through the motions.

"We can't rely on luck." Zuko sat down at the table to go over the scroll again, only to be distracted. "Uncle, are you seriously going through the kata again?"

"Why yes, I am," Iroh answered, going for a third time. "Honestly, I'm having fun."

Zuko grunted in annoyance and redoubled his focus, trying to pry more out of the scroll. Something he had missed in the past few weeks of study. Something offensive. Pulling the air out of someone's lungs, extinguishing flames, shock waves, hurricanes, _something_. But he had missed nothing; there were no offensive techniques that weren't taught with a defensive or utility purpose in mind.

_Detachment_, Zuko thought, shaking his head in derision. _You can't live without a foot on the ground. Just shows you how useless their army was._

"Yes," Iroh said with an oddly contented sigh as he sat down besides Zuko. "That was most productive. We will be adding these katas to our training regimen. I think they will help you."

Zuko's eye widened in anger. "Uncle, you can't cut back my firebending training to shoehorn in airbending forms!"

"Who said I was cutting back?" Iroh asked with a smirk. "Our training sessions just got longer."

Zuko pounded an angry fist on the table. "But that will cut into the rest of the day!"

"Your time spent plotting our course and daydreaming about your return home can afford to be cut short," Iroh replied. "We start tomorrow."

Zuko stood up and growled, stalking off to his room in anger. Iroh watched his retreating form while stroking his beard in thought and narrowed eyes. Then he shrugged and took a sip of tea as he started looking over the scroll.

* * *

_What the heck is that old tea-monkey thinking?_ Zuko thought in frustration.

Zuko was in his room, laying down on his bed with his hands behind his head. The walls of his room were decorated with fire nation paraphernalia, such as a fire nation flag hung over his bed. On the desk was his journal, each day meticulously recorded so he could more easily cross-reference clues he came across during his hunt. The hope was that he'd have a series of eureka moments going over his journal that led him right to his quarry. The reality is that his first entry in months was from several weeks ago after they had successfully found that scroll in the Southern Air Temple.

_Adding airbending katas to our training regimen?_ Zuko continued to steam. _Knowing the enemies moves isn't going to help if I don't even know my own! It's not like they're much of a threat anyway, all they do is run _away_ from fights!_

Of course, that was a lie, and he quickly remembered the corpses of his countrymen having rotted to the bone up in the Air Temples. He grunted to himself and readjusted his position on his bed. _That feels like a cruel joke; the army of the pacifist, peace loving Nomads killed more Fire Nation troops in a day than the Earth Kingdom __has__ over the course of the whole war._

That thought just made him angry, causing his eyes to narrow in frustration. _Pacifist. Detached. Had their head in the clouds is more like it._

_How can anyone live like that?_ Zuko asked himself. _Just completely separate themselves from the world and ignore all the bad stuff like nothing's happening. They were like children._

Zuko turned on his bed, moving to his side. _Children so dangerous Sozin didn't dare make a move on them without the comet. __So clearly they weren't as detached and respectful of life as they tried to say they were._

At that moment, Zuko remembered the bodies of the fallen monks in the temple. _Then again,_ _who could be that detached when staring at deaths door? Who couldn't try to defend themselves in the face of an attacker?_

He shook his head in frustration. _That just proves how impractical their philosophy was; in the end it just got them killed._

_ Besides, you can't just _detach_ yourself from real life,_ Zuko continued. _If you don't care if you go hungry and you don't eat, what do you do? You starve._

A part of him knew that he was being unfair and exaggerating what the scroll was trying to say. But that part was small and didn't talk much, so the frustrated and angry prince ignored it. _How is training their katas supposed to help? Find weaknesses in the Avatar's bending? I don't need to practice the kata to see he can't attack for anything! Detach myself from my problems? I won't be motivated to find the Avatar and restore my honor!_

Zuko breathed in sharply and caused the candles in his room to glow brighter on the exhale. _Yet Uncle thinks its a good idea! It's like he places feeling good over...wait, that's exactly what it is._

He rolled his eyes. _U__ncle, you're supposed to be helping me not trying to get me to give up!_

The prince sat up. _You know, maybe I'm just exaggerating. Uncle will probably see how it's not helping and then we can cut our training sessions back to what they're supposed to be so he can get back to his Tea and Pai Sho._

* * *

_ Author's Notes: I once met a Kung Fu master that tried to teach me the concept of being Neutral. A lot of Zuko's complaints and objections about the Air Nomad's focus on detachment and freedom mirror my own. Personally, I think after a lot of personal introspection, I understand what the man was trying to tell me; though I'm still not very good at it. Zuko, however, desperately needs to take a step back and really look at his situation, something I would like to show him doing in this fic._

_ Trying to see how long I can pump these chapters out daily, and we're on day two. I'd like to thank all of you for your positive response, it really brought a smile to my face knowing you guys really liked this. You guys are awesome and it's a pleasure to write for you._

_ Shout out goes out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven_and_Handwran. _Your continued support helps make my writing possible._

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	3. Surprising Lessons

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

"And down again."

Zuko. Was. _Angry_.

Their practice was supposed to be done for the day. It was supposed to be done for the day ten minutes ago for the past three weeks. But every time Zuko was ready to call it done, Iroh came off from his seat and joined him on the deck for Airbending forms.

_Airbending_.

The prince knew some members of the crew were giving them odd looks, even if they knew this was ostensibly to learn about the Avatar's weaknesses. But there was nothing further to learn. Zuko had poured over every single kata, every blow and strike and cataloged every strength and weakness he could find.

Don't bunch up into groups, restrict his mobility and use weighted nets that he can't just blow away to catch him.

Continuing to practice these katas now just felt like a waste of time, busywork and it was starting to make him angry. Especially when the ship rocked on the waves and threw his form off so Uncle made him repeat the movement.

"And rest," Iroh said, bringing the kata to an end. "I feel like I'm learning something new every time we do this together."

"That makes one of us," Zuko replied with a surly glare.

Iroh hummed in curiosity. "Oh, I think you've learned plenty. You've been doing your breathing exercises!"

"You said they helped," Zuko grumbled. "What does breathing have to do with airbending?"

Iroh adopted a cheeky grin. "Well, you breathe air, don't you?"

Zuko groaned with absolute irritation. "Uncle, I just realized that it helps a little. That's all."

"And you started doing them faster than I expected you too," Iroh replied, putting his hands in his sleeves. "Rather than stubbornly persisting in not doing them and finally relenting after two, maybe three more lectures."

"Thanks, Uncle." Zuko's shoulders hunched over to match his deadpan expression.

"Do you at least understand why you've changed so quickly?" Iroh asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uncle, I just started doing the breathing exercises you demanded I do!" Zuko argued hotly. "Why's that such a big deal?"

Iroh let out a sigh and started to stroke his beard, contemplating his next few words. "Zuko, what is Air?"

Zuko blinked in confusion. "What?"

"What is air?" Iroh repeated.

"I don't..." Zuko began, then groaned in annoyance. "Air is what we breathe? Something fire needs to survive? The Element of Freedom?"

"The Element of Freedom," Iroh nodded in approval, causing Zuko to feel a little relieved that he had at least guessed the right answer. "Airbending stresses detachment from worldly care and problems as the way to peace and happiness."

"Right," Zuko replied, rolling his eyes. "Because plugging your ears and repeating 'I don't care' fixes everything."

Iroh resisted sighing in annoyance himself. "Zuko, when I told you that you needed to do your breathing exercises, you became upset. You were annoyed that I was getting after you for not consistently doing them. But after we started doing these katas, you were able to detach from your annoyance and start doing your breathing. And look, your firebending has improved dramatically!"

Zuko blinked, considering this new information. "Thank you, Uncle."

"I am only speaking the truth," Iroh said, placing a hand on Zuko's shoulder.

"I just worry," Zuko said, looking down at the ship. "When I face the Avatar, I won't be ready to fight him."

The two walked to the edge of the ship, looking over the waters of the ocean as they coursed down beneath them. Behind the ship, Zuko could see dolphin-sharks trailing after the ship, waiting for the cook to throw out rotten or otherwise undesirable food. There had been tails of Fire Nation sailors going overboard and quickly winding up as meals for the creatures, though Zuko was hoping he could go his entire journey without that happening to his crew once.

"Why do you say that, Prince Zuko?" Iroh asked.

"I haven't even gotten past the basics," Zuko muttered over the sound of the waves splashing against the ships hull. "How can I defeat someone who has had a hundred years to master all four elements if I can't even do basic firebending right?"

"There are no shortcuts to mastery," Iroh replied with equal discretion. "There is merely the path. How fast you run along that path is up to you."

Zuko folded his arms. "Then I need to learn how to sprint."

"There is much to be said for wanting to run fast along the road to success," Iroh stated. "But those who try to run faster than they have strength often trip and fall before they even catch sight of the destination."

Zuko groaned. "Why could I have been a prodigy like Azula? I'd be bending lighting by now."

"You have great talent for Fire Bending, Zuko," Iroh replied. "Do not let your slow start discourage you."

"Oh really?" Zuko asked hotly. "Then why aren't I throwing blue fire? Why aren't I bending lightning? Why do I keep screwing up? What am I missing, Uncle? Tell me that!"

It was at that moment that Iroh had an epiphany, getting a shocked and surprised look in his eyes as something occurred to him before. "Come with me. I think I may have the answer to your question."

* * *

They were sitting in the bridge at the table. A Yeoman had brought Iroh paper and writing equipment.

He placed the paper in front of Zuko. "Fire is the Element of power. Firebending is using overwhelming force tempered by unyielding will to accomplish tasks, desires and missions."

Iroh had drawn a fire symbol in the center of the paper. Then, he drew three lines going out from that fire and drew a circle at the edges. "Zuko, what does fire need to live?"

In another life, Zuko might have protested a lesson very much like this, thinking that he already knew all of this and forcing this lesson to take too long to complete. As it was, the prince in exile frowned. "It needs fuel, heat and air."

"That's right," Iroh nodded, filling in the three sections that had drawn with illustrations. "A fire needs something to burn, needs heat to get started and air to breathe, much like a living person. Firebending is the same way. In Firebending, what is the fuel?"

Zuko blinked. "Chi?"

"That's right," Iroh nodded, writing the word chi next to the pile of coal he had crudely drawn. "And the air?"

"Like you said, Uncle, the power of firebending comes from the breath," Zuko pointed out, his brow furrowing in irritation.

Uncle Iroh wrote 'breath' next to the symbol of the air nomads he had drawn. "What about heat?"

"Anger. Rage. Hatred," Zuko replied with absolute surety.

"No."

Zuko looked up at his Uncle. "No?"

"No," Iroh repeated with a solemn nod. "That is not what allows firebending to survive."

"What?" Zuko barked, letting flames out of his nose in anger. "That doesn't make any sense! I didn't even start to get decent at firebending until after I learned to...to... to harness my anger!"

"No, Prince Zuko," Iroh shook his head. "You did not start to become better at Firebending until you were sent to capture the Avatar."

"What are you talking about?" Zuko asked with an angry, confused expression.

"Being sent to capture the Avatar gave you a purpose in life," Iroh explained. "It gave you direction. It gave you something to strive towards. It gave you _drive._"

"Drive?" Zuko blinked.

"That," Iroh started, writing the word down next to the word heat on the diagram. "Is the heat of Firebending. Not anger or hatred. Drive. Desire. Goals you wish to achieve, things you want. That just leaves the question, Prince Zuko; what drives you?"

Zuko stared at the diagram his Uncle drew, completely lost in his thoughts. Iroh put his hands in his sleeves and closed his eyes in meditation.

In truth, there were a lot of things that drove Prince Zuko. "I want my honor back."

Iroh nodded. "What else?"

"I want my father to recognize me as a worthy successor to the throne," Zuko continued. "I want to find out what happened to my mother."

Zuko looked down at the table some more and Iroh went back to his meditation.

"I want my home back."

With that, Iroh looked at him with a kind, sagely smile. "Good. When you firebend, when you are training and practicing, use _that_. Heat your flames with that desire. Let it drive you and push you forward."

It was at this very second that the ship violently rocked. The helmsman turned to Iroh. "Earth Kingdom raiders! We just took a boulder to the deck!"

Zuko and Iroh stood up immediately.

"Battle stations! Engage evasive maneuvers and try to get close enough for us to get a clear shot," Zuko ordered, stomping forward to look at the enemy through the telescope on the outside desk.

"Yes, Prince Zuko!" The helmsman yelled, executing his orders without delay.

_This is one of those times I wish we had __more than one__ catapult_, Zuko thought in dismay.

"Now hear this, now hear this," The Lieutenant started shouting into the voice pipe. "This is Lieutenant Jee. We have come under attack. Assume battle stations!"

Jee threw the pipe shut just as the helmsman quickly turned the ship to avoid an oncoming boulder. Everyone on board nearly lost their balance but continued on their duties. Zuko ran out and looked through the telescope mounted to the outer railing.

Looking through the glass, Zuko saw their enemy. He turned to Jee who had followed him out. "Earth Kingdom patrol ship at range forty-two. I want three pairs of benders on the deck to counter attack while we get close. Get that catapult manned! On the double!"

"Yes, your highness!" Jee hurriedly ran back inside and opened the voice pipe to relay their orders.

Zuko back into the bridge and ran for the stairs. "Come on, Uncle! We need to return fire!"

The prince found himself nearly thrown from the steps when the ship was rocked violently by a loud impact that echoed through the steel corridors. _I hope that wasn't the mess hall._

Zuko and Iroh ran out onto the deck and nodded to each other, moving into a synchronized kata.

General Iroh had noted their catapult shortage early on in the journey and ensured that the crew was trained in long-range combat. Specifically, the long-range fireballs the Fire Navy had used before they started using catapults armed with boulders coated in burning oil.

They were usually cast by teams of two, sometimes three, fire-benders, pooling together their chi to create a massive fireball capable to traversing long distances. The reason they had swapped to catapults was that catapults were usually capable of throwing larger, heavier and more damaging ordinance than was capable by the average firebender.

Zuko and Iroh let loose their fireball, watching it fly through the air and miss the enemy ship, seemingly overshooting it.

With a curse, Zuko and Iroh tried again, this time being joined by other pairs of fire benders who were launching their own flames at the ship.

The prince looked up and saw a black spot in the sky that was rapidly getting larger. "Clear the deck!"

The Fire Benders scrambled as the desk where Zuko had been standing was crushed beneath the weight of a boulder that had been flung at high speeds.

Zuko was as emboldened by this as he was angered. "Return fire!"

So it was. Boulders rained from the sky most sinking impotently into the ocean while the fire-bender's of the ship returned the favor with great balls of flame. Zuko noted, with glee, that he could tell his ship was getting closer to his target, even though they were obviously trying to stay out of their reach.

After one final fire ball, Zuko and Iroh scored a direct hit, setting the top deck on fire and bringing the ship to a slow halt. Other balls of fire slammed into the side of the hull, causing the whole ship to burn. "Cease fire!"

Zuko walked to the edge of the railing, watching the ship. He could see sailors jumping out of the ship, some on fire and into lifeboats. From the distance, Zuko thought he could hear their screams as they burned, earning just the smallest tinge of sympathy.

"Your highness," Lieutenant Jee came up behind him. "Give the order and we'll finish this."

The prince narrowed his eyes. "No. They're beaten, let them go. Set a course for the closest shipyard, I want this ship repaired as quickly as possible."

Lieutenant Jee didn't seem happy about it, but he bowed. "Yes, your highness."

* * *

Zuko stared at the map he had mounted on the bridge. He was cupping his chin deep in thought. "Uncle, we've checked each of the Air Temples. Where do we go next?"

Iroh took a massive gulp of tea. "There are many places that are associated with the Avatar that we could go. Kyoshi Island, for instance. Lovely place, and it's nearby."

Zuko grumbled and turned to his Uncle. "I was hoping to avoid going into enemy territory unless we knew he was there."

"A fair point," Iroh answered.

"Where would he even be?" Zuko asked, looking back at the map. "If he were in Ba Sing Se, he would have fought against you when you breached it's wall."

"Indeed," Iroh replied. "Perhaps it would be better to ask the question of why he is hiding in the first place?"

"I don't know the answer to that," Zuko replied with a glare. "Maybe he's training and gaining enough power to wipe out the Fire Nation with a single blow. Maybe he's waiting for Sozin's Comet to come back around so he can destroy it and demoralize the entire Fire Nation."

"Maybe he's sleeping," Iroh joked with a smirk.

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Uncle, this is serious."

Iroh let out a breath. "Well, since we don't know where he can be and perhaps we should start thinking about how we begin looking."

"Do you have a suggestion, Uncle?" Zuko asked.

"When we pull into neutral ports, you should start putting out feelers," Iroh suggested. "Pay a few beggars here, a merchant there, get people looking for you."

"Uncle, most of the world won't spy on the Avatar for the Fire Nation," Zuko argued, eyes narrowing. "Especially not an exiled prince. They'd take our money and laugh after we left."

"True enough, I suppose," Iroh replied with a shrug.

"So we're stuck doing this the hard way," Zuko shook his head in frustration. "Searching the globe from the North Pole to the South Pole. Look for deserted islands, listen for rumors."

The prince took a deep breath. "This is going to take a while."

"Well, as long as you get to go home at the end, it'll be worth it, right?" Iroh asked, trying to sound encouraging, but his eyes were somewhat distant.

"Yeah," Zuko replied, squinting at the map and slowly turning to sit at the table. He picked up the ships damage report, which was thankfully minimal. The only real damage that had been done to the ship was the mess hall, to the consternation of the entire crew. Thankfully, the ship's cook was making due down in the boiler with some help from the engineer, but the crew had_ loved_ that mess hall. Morale was going to take a hit until it was fixed.

"So what is it that you are looking forward to the most when we get home?" Iroh asked.

Zuko didn't answer immediately, simply taking a cup of tea from the serving tray. After a few sips, he finally answered. "I want to ask my father what happened to Mother."

"Ah," Iroh slowly nodded in thought. In another life, perhaps, Iroh might not have thought it was a good idea to ask this question, lest his short-tempered and determined charge shut him out completely and send them all back to square one. But given recent events and Zuko's listening more and more to his counsel, he decided to risk it.. "Do you believe he'll tell you?"

Zuko blinked in surprise, unable to speak for a moment. "He'd have too."

Iroh shook his head. "No, I'm afraid the Firelord doesn't have to do anything."

"But I would've brought the Avatar home, restored my honor, proved myself a worthy heir," Zuko argued rapidly. "He'd want to tell me, if I just asked."

Iroh took a deep sip of his tea and began to refill the cup. "Are you so sure about that?"

"Yes!" Zuko argued defiantly.

"And if he doesn't?" Iroh asked.

"Then I'll find out what happened to her _after_ I've ascended to the throne," Zuko snapped. "It doesn't matter if he won't tell me! I'll find her!"

Iroh hummed.

"What?" Zuko snapped.

"It just occurred to me," Iroh asked. "That perhaps it might be impossible to find the Avatar until he shows himself and if so, then perhaps we might be able to multi-task."

"You mean," Zuko stopped short. "You mean look for Mother at the same time?"

Iroh slowly nodded with a satisfied look in his eye.

Zuko growled. "But what if Father killed her?"

"Then he wouldn't tell you unless he suspected you either agreed with his decision or couldn't do anything about him," Iroh replied. "And he would not risk making the Prince who defeated the Avatar his enemy, so he would lie and send you on a hopeless quest."

"My father wouldn't lie," Zuko sniffed.

"Your father raised Azula," Iroh pointed out flatly.

Zuko started grinding his teeth together in anger. He stood up, and walked out of the bridge, slamming the steel door behind him.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Here we are, changes starting to become more apparent. Zuko's listening more to Iroh and thus, Iroh's feels its a better and better idea to explain some of the more fundamental ideas that he had kept from Zuko until he felt like listening; such as the lessons on Firebending that Iroh learned when he found the Sun Monks and received instruction from Ran and Shaw. Just a little bit of that though._

_ The Earth Kingdom ship fight was supposed to end with a boarding action initially, except that I don't think Zuko's ship was armed with ballistae. I didn't even think it had a trebuchet but I was wrong on that and didn't feel like being incorrect twice. So, I just had the wooden ship get hit and burn. You know, the steel ships and flame-blasting weaponry goes a long way to explaining the Fire Nations domination of non Water Tribe waters._

_Also, what are they still using catapults and trebuchets for?_

_ Shout out goes out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven_and_Handwran _for your continued support!_

_Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	4. Epiphanies

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

"And that's enough for today," Iroh said. "You go on inside, Prince Zuko. I'll catch up."

"You're not coming?" Zuko asked with irritation. "You were supposed to help me chart a search pattern along the western coasts."

It had been a day since their ship was repaired, Zuko wanting to put out to sea as quickly as possible. Thankfully, the mess hall wasn't hard to fix, just one of the walls had been smashed in, warping parts of the ceiling and floor with it.

"I'll be along in a minute," Iroh replied, starting yet another _airbender kata_.

Zuko's eye twitched and he turned away on his heel with an angry growl. He stomped up the stairs and through the door up to the bridge. _What is Uncle doing_?

Up on the bridge, he walked up to the map. _He's holding up our planning, that's what he's doing. Just so he can do airbender katas. He's a firebender! He should be practicing his firebending!_

They had stopped at Pouhai Stronghold to have their ship fixed and were traveling away from shore. Marked up on the map, places such as Makapu Village and the large island off of it's coast might be good places to start looking. Zuko had heard the village had a fortune teller, a fairly skilled one at that; though Zuko would have to be much more desperate than he already was to consider employing her services.

He had a perfectly functional pair of eyes and a brain, thank you. He shouldn't have to resort to a soothsayer.

Zuko took a deep breath and studied the map. There were Earth Kingdom coastal towns all through the northern peninsula that he could dock at if he needed supplies, none of them would be places a hundred year old bridge between worlds would be hiding.

Because they traded with the Fire Nation and the Fire Nation made it a point to burn any places a hostile spirit might be taking shelter. With very few noted exceptions, it worked; their armies were rarely stopped by spirits who guarded the valleys and hills they marched through. But it never brought the Avatar out from hiding.

The prince hit his head against the map with a groan, bringing his fist against it as well. "I can do it...I can do it...my father wouldn't have given me this mission if he didn't think I could do it..."

But there was a niggling thought in the back of his skull that this was a lie.

With a growl, he shook this thought away from him, studying the map. He had already done the circuit around the Earth Kingdom's continent once as he visited each of the Air Temples. A more thorough search of the Earth Kingdom would be needed but he was not looking forward too it.

It was then that Zuko realized that he also had two other places he could search while he was circumnavigating the globe. Again.

_He might he hiding in the Poles_, Zuko thought. It was as if a frozen spike was being driven in the pit of his stomach. _Oh, I was hoping to avoid going to enemy territory and they're even worse than the Earth Kingdom.._

Zuko swallowed. _Still, if that's where he is, then I need a plan to search it. Where is Uncle Iroh?_

He took a deep breath and walked over to the panoramic windows surrounding the helm and looked down at the deck, where he could see Iroh still training his airbending_._ Without actually bending air. _Still? __He's just doing the katas for no reason!_

With his hands curled tightly into fists, he stalked to the stairs, intent on dragging his uncle up to the bridge by his ankles if he had too.

However, when Zuko actually got to the bridge and opened his mouth to start shouting, his voice was robbed of it's power and he was forced to stare, blankly, at what his Uncle was doing. He was not alone, either; the guards on deck were staring at his Uncle instead of the absolute discipline they had been trained to employ while on duty.

Between General Iroh's circling hands was a single cloud of black smoke.

Zuko's head tilted as Iroh pushed and pulled the cloud with a smile on his face, creating a twister that flew up from his feet into the air, filling the sky with smoke that sparked with orange embers. Then Iroh brought the cloud back down and made it bigger, forcing it to course in a ring around him.

The prince sat down on the deck and waited for his Uncle to finish, with a completely flabbergasted expression on his face. He watched as the smoke went from side to side, up and down, around, through his legs, beneath his arms, like some kind of playful pet serpent.

With a deep breath, Iroh finished, dispelling the cloud with a wave of his hands.

"Uncle!" Zuko immediately stood and rushed to the elderly general. "That was incredible! How did you do that? What even was that? Can you teach me?"

"I believe I can," Iroh replied with a smile. "But I'd say that it might be a little more difficult for you to manage a smoke cloud than it was for me."

"Why, Uncle?" Zuko immediately asked, fueled by the desperation of wanting every possible advantage that he could get his hands on.

"Because you have not yet mastered the basics," Iroh replied, pointing at Zuko's nose. "And because you have not tried to understand what the Air Nomad's have had to say about their bending and apply it to your own art."

"I..." Zuko took a deep breath and let it out. "Alright. Alright, Uncle. What do I have to do in order to master the basics faster?"

"You must spend less time staring at that map in the bridge," Iroh replied, more than a little delighted that his nephew had finally accepted what he had been telling him for a year. "And more time studying the Firebending scrolls that have been sitting in your room collecting dust for the past few months."

"Uncle, we need to plan out the course for our Search," Zuko objected. "Now that we've been to each of the temples, we're going to have to widen our search to the North and South Poles. We cannot afford to get careless because we didn't plan our expedition properly."

"A dangerous undertaking," Iroh replied. "But perhaps an unnecessary one. Zuko, if I might be honest, I do not believe we will find the Avatar before he reveals himself. Thus, outright looking for him across the globe is much less productive than mastering your bending."

In another life, perhaps Zuko might've still been so bull headed as to charge into the North Pole, carefully and meticulously searching the ice fields for months and even finding the capital of the Northern Water tribe, only to stealthily leave and go towards the South Pole when it became apparent that searching for the Avatar within the city of ice and snow would be impossible.

"We can do both on the way," Zuko pointed out with a glare.

"But an expedition into the North Pole would be recklessly dangerous and foolhardy." Iroh leaned forward and fixed Zuko with a knowing gaze. "Even a master of infiltration would find himself hard pressed to sneak into the Northern Water tribe in a Fire Nation ship. Better to halt the search itself and focus on expanding your education."

"Can't I just do the drills a few more times a day?" Zuko asked with a frown. He had studied those scrolls extensively when they had started their journey and then hadn't touched them because he already knew what was on them.

"No, Prince Zuko." Iroh shook his head. "Over-training yourself can lead to injury and blocked Chi pathways. If you study the Firebending scrolls with the same voraciousness as you studied that Airbending scroll, you will master the basics in no time."

Zuko's hands balled into fists again and he took a deep breath. "Fine. But I'm studying the Airbending scroll too."

"I would be a little careful about that," Iroh replied, raising a finger in warning. "Too much wind will snuff any flame."

Zuko blinked. "I will, Uncle."

* * *

With a growl of anger, Zuko ran through the kata again.

Iroh watched from his favorite spot, sipping his tea.

Zuko was not trying to do a Firebending Kata, though; he was attempting to Smokebend. But he had yet to actually create any smoke. Plenty of fire, though. Fire that flew in odd directions and came uncomfortably close to singing Iroh's beard a couple of times.

"Why can't I do it?" Zuko growled.

Iroh took another sip of tea before answering. "Have you been meditating?"

"Yes!" Zuko barked. "I set my candles every morning and clear my head."

Iroh hummed. "Perhaps you should meditate more? The Nomad's prescribed meditation for nearly everything."

"Uncle, I can't sit on a cushion all day with nothing in my head," Zuko shouted in anger.

"I agree," Iroh nodded. "But two hours of meditation a day instead of only one might make the difference between Smokebending and no Smokebending."

Zuko let out a low grumble and started to go through the kata again and again, there was no smoke. He let out a blast of fire from his foot as he kicked angrily towards the bow. This time he went through a fire bending kata, fire going every which way, dependably, just as Zuko had been trained. "I'm done for the day."

Iroh simply shrugged and dismissed him with a gesture.

Zuko stalked to the door and door the stairs to his quarters, opening and slamming the door behind him. On his desk were the Firebending scrolls his Uncle had told him to study more. He felt like all he did this week was study those scrolls, and he studied those scrolls to get away from studying the Airbending scroll.

A scroll that was starting to turn his entire life upside down.

First, before he found the scroll, he had an image of his head of what it would be like to finally meet the Avatar. A dream, or a vision perhaps.

After spending years of searching, scouring the North and South Poles, razing the Earth Kingdom and even destroying the Temples, his search would take him below, to the under ground. As he and his expedition broke the final wall, they would have found him.

Zuko imagined that the Avatar might have sealed himself away beneath the Earth in a great vault as he trained, all of his past lives acting as his teachers while the war raged across the surface. The inside of this vault looked like the landscape of an alien world, the rocks spiking up out of the ground and floating in the air, fire swirling in the sky, the rain falling so fast they might as well have been small knives and the air would be breathable, but just barely.

Then, crashing down in front of them, they would see him. A bald man, fully grown and massive in height and stature, without even the smallest hint of age on his features, his glowing eyes judging the Prince and his and finding them wanting. He would crash to the ground like a bolt of lightning and stand over them.

Zuko feared that, upon this meeting, they would be crushed and murdered. The very earth itself would open beneath them to swallow them whole, rain would cut them to ribbons. Whatever meager counter attack they would mount wouldn't so much as scratch him. Then, after everyone was dead, Zuko alone would be left alive, to which the Avatar would spare him, saying only this:

'Return to your home and raise your future failures.'

The prince might have been grateful that this was likely not going to be the case. The Air Nomad's were pacifists with a respect for life over all else, but it just sullied the image Zuko had been building up in his mind. They were not chasing after a deadly and monstrous being locked away only by walls he was unable to bend away for some reason. They were chasing after a coward who was more likely to flee than fight him, even with his mastery of the four elements.

"It explains why we haven't even found a trace of him," Zuko grumbled, sitting at the chair. "Now if I could just master smoke bending, we might have another way to stop him from just running away."

The plan was to use this smokebending that his uncle invented to force smoke into the Avatar's lungs. While the Avatar was coughing and hacking, they'd net and restrain him. But that wouldn't work if Zuko couldn't bend smoke! And he couldn't bend smoke if he couldn't work through the basic's like his Uncle said.

_Drive_, Zuko thought, remembering his Uncle's lesson from a few weeks ago. _Drive is what fuels firebending. I want my home back. That's my heat. That's what ignites my fire. __Focus on that._

With that, he pulled out a Firebending scroll, on the basics and started reading.

* * *

"We're not actually going to the North Pole, are we, General?" Lieutenant Jee asked nervously.

"I do not believe so," Iroh replied easily, looking at the map with a small smile on his face. "Zuko is adjusting his priorities. Nevertheless, he is captain of this vessel and if that is where he wishes to go, then that is where we will go."

"With respect, sir," Lieutenant Jee began. "I didn't sign up for a suicide mission."

"Of course not," General Iroh replied, turning toward the Lieutenant. "If we do go to the North Pole, I will do everything in my considerable power to ensure that we are at the smallest possible risk so that we may return to the ship safely. Do you understand?"

"Yes, General," Lieutenant Jee replied with a bow.

"Very good," Iroh replied. "Prince Zuko is in his quarters, yes?"

"I believe so, General," Lieutenant Jee answered. "He looked angry. Trying to bend smoke again?"

"Indeed." Iroh began stroking his beard. "Have you or any of the other firebenders in the crew considered also trying to learn?"

"No, General," Lieutenant Jee answered. "I know an advanced firebending technique when I see one and that's something out of my purview. Besides, it would interfere with our duties."

"That's fair," Iroh said, moving his hand to cover a yawn. "Ah, I believe I'll go take a nap."

* * *

_How does anyone live like this?_ Zuko asked himself for the hundredth time.

The Firebending scroll had started to cook his brain with it's monotony, so he put it aside in favor of the larger airbending scroll that spent most of it's time in his room so he could study it. It was a form of bile fascination for the prince, who found it disgusting but was unable to look away.

It hadn't ceased to amaze him just how much airbenders prided not caring in the slightest. Sure, Uncle told him not to confuse detachment and apathy, but perhaps he should tell that to the monks themselves.

Except he couldn't because they were all dead and their philosophy was to blame. All that detachment couldn't save them from extinction.

_Perhaps they simply thought the fire would go away if they didn't care about it enough?_ Zuko mentally jeered as he looked through the scroll. _How'd they get anything done?_

He continued to read through the scroll, rubbing the top of his bald head, just in front of his ponytail. He was doing this to try to stop himself from scratching as his large burn scar because he didn't want it getting any worse than it already was.

_Maybe if they actually had an army, they might not have died by Sozin's Comet,_ Zuko mentally snapped, glaring at the scroll with absolute contempt as he studied it's teachings on detachment and personal freedom.

He gave up on the scroll and stood up from his desk. He was filled with annoyance, and anger. Perhaps a calmer mind would help him push through it and see what he needed to understand. He remembered what his Uncle had told him when they first found the scroll; _a clear head can often see what emotion cannot_.

So he sat down, lit the four candles he had set for meditation and started breathing.

Inhale. Exhale.

Focus on the breath.

Not the scroll, not the airbending scroll or it's teachings which wouldn't leave him alone. Not his failure to bend smoke, something that honestly felt like it should be simple. Not how stupidly impractical the Nomad's suggestions on life were, not how they basically signed their own death warrant by being unable to defend themselves…

_It __was like a tragic comedy,_ Zuko thought. _That the army of a people who cherished life above all else would be the first to fall in war. Almost like they didn't have an army at all._

He continued to breathe, pushing everything else out of his mind, just focusing on inhaling and exhaling. He felt the candle flames reaching up then falling down with each breath, felt the heat surge and wane and saw the light brighten and dim through his eyelids.

Zuko felt the anger and annoyance fade away. The disgust was evaporating and something else too, that he hadn't seen before.

Shame.

Why was he feeling shame? Where did that come from?

Shame gave way to confusion as he continued to meditate and he came to the sight he had hated to see at every air temple; the bodies. Specifically, the ones where children were hiding behind their elders, hoping to find some measure of protection, hoping to be shown mercy and finding neither from the countrymen of his past.

It was at this moment, that Zuko had an epiphany.

_Wait…_

* * *

_Author's Notes: You know, I think a lot of my difficulty as a writer came from not wanting a resolve an emotional issue too soon. I'd have the MC think and think and think about something, make everyone believe he was coming to an epiphany and then...he'd stop just short of making the connection or changing his behavior. It can happen a few times, I guess, but too much and people get _annoyed_. Justifiably so!_

_ This comes to Zuko who basically had Airbending philosophy shoved down his throat by his own fork. He's seen a belief system so antithetical to how he was raised and it scared him, which is why he's been ripping on it nonstop for three chapters now. That said, now he's doing the Airbending kata in the hopes of learning his Uncle's smokebending which means he's going to gorge himself even harder on their moves and philosophy which reads him to take some...rather nasty suppositories._

_ Shout out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven_and_Handwran. _Your continued support makes this possible._

_ ~Fulcon_


	5. Broken Chains

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

Normally, per their routine for the day, Iroh and Zuko would enjoy breakfast on the bridge. It gave Iroh time to give Zuko lessons and counsel for the day, mostly on Firebending and how best to go about his search.

Zuko, more often than not, would get here first. He would have sat down, brooding and letting his impatience get the better of him on the days that Iroh would rather sleep for just a few minutes longer. He was an old man.

Iroh suspected that this had to do with Zuko purposefully delaying breakfast being served until after the general had arrived so they could eat together. But today, that was not the case.

Zuko was not on the bridge.

Well, if his nephew was going to sleep in for once on this trip, Iroh wasn't going to stop him. "Yeoman, could you ensure that breakfast is delivered to Zuko's quarters?"

"Yes, General," The Yeoman replied with a bow, grabbing the Prince's breakfast tray and standing up to deliver it.

For Iroh's part, he had begun stroking his beard.

If Zuko continued along this path that he was on, perhaps he might realize that the Fire Nation was wrong in it's attempts to conquer and then he might be ready for initiation into the order. That was the dream, to bring Zuko fully on board with bringing peace and balance back to the world. With the scroll they had recovered, they may even be able to begin restoring the Airbenders.

_One thing at a time_, Iroh chided himself with a shake of his head. _Just get Zuko through this healthily and happily and we can proceed from there._

"General Iroh, sir?" The Yeoman prodded.

"Yes, what is it?" Iroh turned to look and saw that the Yeoman still had the tray.

"Prince Zuko refused breakfast." He held out the tray for Iroh to look at. "Shall I return to the kitchen to have this saved for later?"

"Please do," Iroh replied, standing up.

Something was wrong.

Iroh speedily walked down the stairs to the quarters, down the hall until he reached Zuko's door, which was closed and very much locked. Iroh knocked on the steel door. "Zuko? Zuko, are you alright?"

After a moment, the door slowly opened, revealing Zuko.

The Prince did not look well. In fact, the boy looked physically sick. His skin was paler, his pony tail a complete mess. Iroh looked into Zuko's bloodshot eyes, bags thick and dark enough had emerged beneath Zuko's good eye that it almost matched his scar. His robe was haphazardly draped around him, only barely hanging onto his shoulders.

"Uncle." Zuko's voice was hoarse and scratchy.

"Prince Zuko, you seem to have fallen ill," Iroh started.

Zuko didn't respond immediately, and when he did, it wasn't about that. "The Air Nomads didn't have an army, did they?"

Iroh blinked in surprise. "No, Zuko. I do not believe they did."

"I didn't think so," Zuko replied, slamming the door in front of him.

* * *

_They didn't have an army._

Zuko's breathing was labored and his throat felt like something had jumped in with a knife and started hacking away.

He shed his robe and slipped back into bed.

_I can't believe they didn't have an army_.

But just like the previous afternoon and evening, sleep eluded him completely. No matter how tightly he shut his eyes, he couldn't force the gentle embrace of sleep to come upon him.

_Why didn't they have an army_?

The prince already knew the answer to this question. They were pacifists with a nigh universal respect for life in all it's forms. From their point of view, it made no sense to have an army. From how their entire population were benders to how often they all traveled across the globe.

An army not only would have seemed unnecessary, it would've been counterproductive.

_They should've had an army_.

But that wasn't really the point. It was a deflection and Zuko knew it. He started coughing, feeling like there was a fistful of needles jammed down the throat. Was there pus coming out of his scarred eye? There was pus coming out of his scarred eye. Why was there pus coming out of his scarred eye?

_We shouldn't have attacked them._

This was a complete shock to Zuko. How in the name of Agni could great-grandfather Sozin even _think_ of something like that? How could everyone have lied about it for so long? How could the fire nation not care about the innocent people they had killed?

_Didn't anyone care?_

It was then that Zuko remembered the chain of events that lead up to his banishment. How he had spoken out against the senseless waste of fresh fire nation troops and wound up with a horrific burn scar for his troubles. Alongside the mission to finish what the Fire Nation started so many years ago.

_...Father doesn't care about innocent lives._

It was then that sleep came to him.

* * *

"He just needs liquids and rest," The ship's doctor informed Iroh.

"Then I will tend to him," Iroh replied.

"Very good, General," The Doctor replied, gathering his check-up equipment and leaving with a bow.

During his time as active general in the Fire Nation army, Iroh made it a point to learn what he could about battlefield medicine. Admittedly, it wasn't much knowledge to speak of, but it was something.

He did, however, recognize this illness and what it meant.

It was not, as many doctors may surmise, entirely a physical illness. Indeed, it was much more mental and emotional turmoil that was leaking into his body with such force that it was forcing him to go through a...metamorphosis of sorts. He was clearing the contradictions within his mind and it was taking a toll on his physical self.

The _reason_ that Iroh had taken over ministration instead of allowing the Doctor to do it was because it was likely that Zuko was going to start speaking of things that sounded like treason to even the most trained mind. He did not need the Doctor spreading or speaking of Zuko's potential to fully rebel against the Fire Nation before Iroh could speak to him. The crew of Zuko's ship were low merit or disgraced, but they were still Fire Nation. That loyalty would trump anything in all but the most extreme cases.

They haven't hit those extreme cases yet.

Iroh had brought herbal and wellness teas, keeping Zuko well hydrated while he slept. The prince was sweating profusely beneath his covers.

* * *

Zuko had come down nearly to the center of the world.

All around him lava poured from streams down crevasses were the stone would be reheated and sent back up. At the end of this path, they came to a steel wall. At his command, Lieutenant Jee and the other firebenders burnt a hole through it. As they stepped through the still cooling metal, they looked up and saw him.

The Avatar.

Floating through the power of his own will, he sat in a lotus position, the elements swirling around him in a maelstrom of absolute power.

"Avatar!" Zuko called up in challenge.

Like a falling meteor, the Avatar was in front of them in an instant. He stared down at them with a hostile scowl. "Finally, a chance to avenge my murdered people!"

Then suddenly they weren't in the center of the earth. They were at the top of a mountain. The southern air temple. But it was not the graveyard he had left. There were monks everywhere, walking, talking, laughing. Children flew above them on clouds.

In front of him, the Avatar changed. No longer was he the tall, godlike figure who would avenge his slain friends and family. Instead, what stood before him was a child, around the age of twelve. He held a staff in his hand and glared up at Zuko. "We don't need to do this!"

Everything changed again, when the sky turned red. The temple around them was enveloped in flames that surged and decimated the temple, covering everything and blinding him. The screams of men, women and children filled his ears as they were burned alive. Then the flames faded.

He no longer stood at the temple. Instead, he stood in an arena. No, not just an arena._ The_ arena. The same one Zuko found himself an exile and nursing a new , bowing in a kowtow in front of him was the Avatar.

The Avatar looked up at him and Zuko did not find the airbender looking up at him. No.

Zuko saw his own face, without the scar that had marred him. "I won't fight you!"

Without a word, Zuko raised his fist and burned the weaklings face.

* * *

With a shout, Zuko bolted up awake. He was hyperventilating, his lungs forcing as much air into his body as they possibly could, irritating Zuko's throat and forcing him to devolve into a fit of coughing. With how much it hurt, he wouldn't be surprised if he started coughing up blood.

"Zuko," Iroh moved up, taking a seat next to his bed with a hot cup of tea in his hand.

After what felt like an eternity of being stabbed over and over again, Zuko finally stopped coughing, bringing his breathing to an easy rhythm.

"Easy, easy," Iroh cautioned, placing a hand on the Prince's back. With the other, he offered Zuko the cup. "Here, drink this."

"Thank you, Uncle," Zuko quickly drank the contents. He was so thirsty he didn't care that it tasted like ostrich-horse poop. "Why am I sick?"

"I imagine you know the answer to that, Prince Zuko," Iroh replied.

"The Air Nomads didn't have an army," Zuko said with absolute disgust. "I don't understand it, Uncle."

"Firelord Sozin wanted more," Iroh answered. "And the Avatar was the only thing standing in his way. Besides him, he felt the Air Nomads were the biggest threat to his dreams of conquest."

"That justifies genocide?" Zuko roared in anger.

After a moment, Iroh shook his head.

Zuko turned to look at his knees. "Father would have said it did."

Iroh poured another cup of tea out of the tea kettle he was keeping hot with his firebending.

"Then Azula would have laughed about it," Zuko continued bitterly. "Said they deserved it for being pacifists."

"Perhaps she would have," Iroh replied, handing Zuko the cup he just poured. "Perhaps they would have. What matters now, Zuko, is what you are going to do about it."

"I don't know what I'm going to do," Zuko replied, downing the hot tea in a single pour. "If I keep hunting the Avatar and find him, it'll let Father continue Sozin's war. Sure I'll be welcomed back home with my honor and place at the throne and maybe he'll actually see me as worthy..."

Zuko's throat gave out, causing him to devolve into another coughing fit. Iroh took the cup from Zuko's grasp and filled it back up.

"Prince Zuko," Iroh began as Zuko's coughs stopped. "Why is your father continuing Sozin's war wrong?"

Zuko looked up at his Uncle in surprise. "Because."

Iroh gestured for him to continue.

The Prince was, understandably, nervous about airing his honestly treasonous thoughts. But he was _just_ sick enough to not care as much as he should have. "Because Sozin's war lead to the deaths of countless innocent lives and will keep doing exactly that. But Father doesn't care. He doesn't even care about his own soldiers."

"Then with that in mind, let me ask you a simple question," Iroh started, handing him the tea. "Do you really _want_ your father's approval?"

Zuko turned to look into his tea, the liquid shining a clear reflection of his face, reflected from the candlelight above and in front of him. He felt like his answer was caught on his tongue, tied by his own refusal to admit the truth out loud.

Iroh leaned back in his chair, his hands on his knees, carefully analyzing his nephew. This answer could signal the true turning point in becoming a healthier, happier young man. One unburdened by the cruel absurdities of his family.

Zuko looked up at his uncle and with a single tear falling out of his good eye, answered. "No."

Iroh gave him a hug.

"I don't want to go home, Uncle."

* * *

Zuko had managed to recover from his illness over the course of three days. He seemed happier, certainly, but he had not been allowed to practice his fire bending by either Iroh or the Ship's Doctor. At first, it was alright, Zuko felt like his legs were going to give out on him at any second from the first couple of days, but on the third, he was getting antsy.

Now, on day four, he had recovered enough.

"Begin," Iroh said, taking his seat.

Zuko began going through the forms, but something was wrong and it made itself known immediately.

When Zuko punched forward, there was no fire. The prince blinked and started again. No fire. A third time, and Iroh stood up.

"What's wrong?" Zuko asked, shaking his head in bewilderment.

"Do you remember the lesson I gave you on the three things needed for fire bending?" Iroh asked with an even, neutral face.

"We don't have time for-" Zuko started hotly, but caught himself and took a breath. "Yes. Breath for air, Chi for fuel and Drive for heat."

"That is right." Iroh nodded. "What are you missing?"

Zuko blinked and looked out across the ocean. "...drive?"

"That's right," Iroh nodded. "Come with me."

Zuko followed his Uncle, staring at his hands the whole time with no shortage of concern.

Iroh led Zuko to the belly of the ship, which was completely deserted save for the two of them. In the evening and early morning, those on the day and night shifts, respectably, would meet there to play cards and shoot the breeze before going to bed. For now, the night shift was in bed and the day shift was on duty, thus the belly of the beast was empty.

"Sit," Iroh beckoned, lighting the barrel in the center alight.

Zuko, who had only been down here in the depths a couple of times, was a little more uncomfortable in his surroundings, but he sat down.

"Now, when we began our mission, we had a clear goal," Iroh began, also sitting. "You were to capture the avatar so that you could earn your honor back. By capturing the Avatar, you would earn your father's respect and be able to return home. Now, you want none of these things. That is why your firebending has regressed."

"Then what do I do about it, Uncle?" Zuko asked with a frustrated glare. "I can't captain this ship without firebending!"

"That is a very simple and very complicated question at the same time," Iroh answered. "And it all stems from a question that you need to ask yourself."

"Which is?"

"Who are you?" Iroh asked him. "And what do you want?"

"I am Zuko," The prince in exile answered with a confused look, first at Iroh, then at the flames dancing in the barrel. "...I don't know what I want."

"Several weeks ago, you told me that you wanted your life back," Iroh replied.

"That was before," Zuko replied, dismissing that with a wave of his hand. "Before I found that scroll and before it threw everything into chaos."

"This is true." Iroh nodded slowly. "But perhaps there were still seeds of truth in there. Instead of wanting your life back, you might want...just your own life?"

"My own life?" Zuko repeated, looking into the fire.

Iroh nodded. "A life outside of Ozai, Azula and the demands of royalty. A life of your own making."

"Uncle, what does that even mean?" Zuko asked. "What would that even look like?"

"That's why the question is complicated," Iroh replied with a smile. "I do not know. In your perfect world, what does your life look like?"

Zuko looked around the hull of the ship before staring into the fire. "It would have my mother. It would have you. I...don't think I'd be on the throne."

"You don't?" Iroh asked with curious expression.

"No." Zuko shook his head. "Why would I want to be? The entire ruling class is filled with people who don't care in the slightest about anyone but themselves, and the people have all been taught that everything that Sozin ever did was right."

Iroh's head started to tilt, his eyes narrowing.

"I don't think I want anything to do with them," Zuko whispered quietly. "I don't want anything to do with the Fire Nation. At all."

The general got a thoughtful frown on his face. This wasn't quite what he was expecting from his nephew. He thought that Zuko would have more righteous indignation, want more to obliterate Ozai from off the face of the Earth and his daughter with him. But Zuko was displaying a more...passive anger. Less indignation, but more moral disgust.

As if he were a little more detached than Iroh had believed.

"The common people being taught that what Sozin did was right is not their fault, Prince Zuko," Iroh pointed out. "There have been many stories, news and we have been at war for a long time. It is only natural that they think this is the way things are supposed to be."

"How many of them would even believe me if I came back, forcibly took the throne and said that everything was wrong?" Zuko asked with a glare. "How many of them would rise up and try to set things back to the way they were?"

Zuko shook his head. "No. I can't rule them, and the more I think about it, the more I don't want too."

"If the opportunity came to end the war, would you take it?" Iroh asked quickly.

"Of course!" Zuko answered with shock. "But Uncle? That's the Avatar's job. He can deal with Father and Azula and whoever else is out there. He has to come out eventually, and when he does? I'm not going to stand in his way."

Iroh was struck as it seemed his nephew was starting to smile.

"Me? I've got things to do," Zuko said, standing up. "I've got a life to build. Somewhere. Somehow. I've got to find my mother. I'm going to keep working on mastering Firebending. I'm...I'm going to keep working on studying the other elements."

"Well, after you've studied air, there's Water and then Earth," Iroh explained. "It shouldn't be that hard to procure scrolls of either discipline once you've mastered the airbending forms."

"The Avatar," Zuko shook his head. "I'm never finding him. And you know what, Uncle? I hope I never find him. Father sent me on a fools errand when he exiled me and it's the only thing I can think of where he did me a favor."

Zuko actually started to laugh; a mirthful thing fueled by nervous energy. "I hope to Agni that the Avatar returns. I hope he sets the world in balance before the next year is out! And Uncle, I hope I never meet him. I'm never going back to the Fire nation! Ever!"

"Zuko, are you alright?" Iroh asked, more than a little concerned that he had pushed his nephew too far.

"Uncle, I've never felt better!" Zuko answered with giddiness in his voice. "I've never felt so alive! My Father is one of the worst people in the world and the best thing he did for me was sending me away forever! I have unlimited license to wander the earth doing whatever I want! I can go to any port, search any ruin, speak to any person, all payed for by his demand that I find the Avatar!"

Zuko turned away. "And it's all because my Father wanted me out of the picture. Well, Father! I'm gone and thank you for it!"

"Zuko," Iroh slowly stood up, still looking concerned.

"Don't you get it Uncle?" Zuko asked, turning back toward his Uncle with the widest smile that Iroh had ever seen on his face.

_"I'm free!"_

* * *

_One Year Later._

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

"Uh, sure? I-I guess."

* * *

_Author's Note: And here we are. At the end of Zuko's journey of self reflection, all thanks to a scroll that told him everything he needed to hear. And to be honest, it's not over yet. Come on, Zuko might be extra determined to stay out of the picture now but he can't keep himself out of the spotlight forever. Like, seriously. He's got two more elements to cover and that's a lot of development still in place._

_ Also, I can't friggan wait to show you how things are going to turn out without Zuko there to push the GAang along the road. It's going to be different, absolutely. Personally, I think it's going to be jaw droppingly awesome._

_ Let me know what you guys think. I'm not going to be able to put out chapters at this same rate, five in a week really pushed me to the limit. I'm taking a break over Saturday and Sunday then coming back to the fic on Monday._

_ Special thanks and shout out goes out too Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven_ and _Handwran! __Your continued support makes this work possible!_

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	6. Exiles

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

_ "_A hundred years?"

Until about now, Aang had thought things were going pretty well, compared to the first time he woke up in a strange place with no recollection of how he got there.

The first time was in the Earth Kingdom after he and Appa accidentally crashed into the side of a mountain in the middle of the night. Some local villagers nursed the two of them back to health in a gesture of absolute kindness.

This time, well, he got caught in a storm after...leaving, and wound up frozen, then after being broken out of the iceberg, fell asleep on Appa's head. Thankfully, Appa was a good at following directions and Katara and Sokka were able to guide him into the village, which was a lot smaller than he figured it'd be.

"I don't believe it."

Speaking of Katara, this _beautiful, immaculate_ girl was now coming with him through this awesome but really, really weird ship that he had never seen before. Fire Nation ships were metal, but they weren't so...pointy. And large. They didn't have catapults on them either.

"I'm so sorry, Aang," Katara said, kneeling down beside him, looking into his eyes with her deep, shining blue eyes. "Maybe there's a bright side to all of this!"

"Well, I did get to meet you," Aang said, succeeding in smile, but only barely.

...the monks were going to kill him.

Katara smiled warmly back at him. "Come on, lets get out of here."

She extended a hand, and he took it with a more genuine smile this time, standing up.

The steel halls of the ship seemed more like a prison, in a way. Aang remembered the last time he and Appa had been on a fire nation ship, artfully created and open with a lot of windows to fly in and out. This had more in common with a labyrinth, closed off with near infinite paths to go through and get lost in.

It was all wrong.

"This place is creepy," Katara said from behind him.

"Yeah," Aang replied with a frown. He looked into one of the rooms and his face lit up. "Hey, there's our way out!"

"Huh?" Katara asked, following the young monk into the room.

Then, Aang found himself on the receiving end of a nasty surprise as he tripped on a rope and stumbled to keep his balance. Behind him, the two could here steel bars slamming shut over the entrance.

Aang caught his balance. "What did you say about booby traps?"

The room filled with the sound of hundred year old machinery starting to work, engines running, gears turning. Steam hissed out of pipes that started to work and above them, they could see a flare being shot high into the sky.

The monk took a surprised Katara into his arms. "Hold tight!"

Aang jumped and Katara cried out in surprise as they rocketed out of the wreck. Aang jumped down the piles of snow with his fair maiden in his arms until they got to the floor.

Perhaps it's fortunate there was no Prince there to see it.

* * *

_In the Northern Hemisphere_

"Again," Iroh commanded.

Zuko went through the motions, smooth and easy, his two front fingers extended. Electricity crackled and snapped as he drew the lightning in a circle. With a sudden surge forward, he united the positive and negative energies, throwing the bolt of lightning off the side of the ship.

Not for the first time, Zuko smirked as he felt the astonishment of the crew.

"Most excellent, Zuko," Iroh complimented. "You've gotten faster."

"Thank you, Uncle," Zuko replied with a bow. "You've taught me well."

"Do not discount what an excellent student you have been," Iroh replied with a small smile. "I believe that we are done for the day. Perhaps we should return to the bridge."

A year ago, Zuko wouldn't have dreamed that he'd ever be able to approach bending lightning, let alone come a fair way along to mastery. But following his discussion with his Uncle, something seemed to click. Gone were his worries and in their place was simply a burning drive to carve his own spot in the world.

Because his cares were gone, his hopeless desire to please his Father dissipated, something miraculous happened; firebending became _fun_. It became something to be truly passionate about and because of that, he stopped being frustrated and angry at himself when he made a mistake, allowing him to correct it faster. So here he was, one of the few, the proud, who could bend lightning. Not to mention how he was one of two smoke benders on the entire planet.

The last year had been very, very kind to Zuko. It even seemed like his scar was less...extreme. Like it had faded ever so slightly.

Though, Zuko figured it was just his eyes tricking him, not that it mattered. His scar was a scar. Who cared if it was fading or not?

The two arrived in the bridge and sat at the table, looking at the map carefully.

"Permission to speak, Prince Zuko?" Lieutenant Jee asked.

"You don't need to ask, Jee," Zuko replied, still looking at the map.

"If the Avatar had lived at the Southern Air Temple like you and the general figured out," Jee started with a thoughtful frown. "Shouldn't we have made our way down to the south pole by now? He was probably around there if he hadn't gone anywhere north."

"Fair question," Zuko muttered in response. "We're looking into the idea that the Avatar actually went to the Spirit World to hide. That's why we're still up here since there's more shrines that we have access too than down south."

Lieutenant Jee's eyes narrowed, but he nodded. "Very good, sir."

"Lieutenant! Sir!" A voice came from the voice pipe.

Lieutenant Jee walked to the pipe. "What is it, sailor?"

"There's been an altercation in the mess hall," Came the reply. "It's been broken up and I was ordered to inform you."

"It's probably the cook and Zikka," Jee muttered in annoyance, shaking his head. "I'll be right down."

He shut the grate and gave the Prince and General a bow. "If you'll excuse me."

Zuko and Iroh nodded and when the Lieutenant was gone, the Prince let out a breath.

"I don't think you can keep up this charade of looking for the Spirit World for much longer," Iroh muttered, his eyes firmly on the helmsman's back.

"I know, Uncle," Zuko replied quietly. "I just need to figure out a way past the blockade so I can get to Hira'a. Just one solid plan. I'll go back to looking for the Avatar once I've done that."

The most likely plan had crumbled when the smuggler he had hired was arrested by the Fire Nation for smuggling Fire Nation armor to the Earth Kingdom army. He was taken _directly_ to the Boiling Rock, which meant the death of yet another one of Zuko's plans to get into the Fire Nation without anyone seeing that he was violating his exile.

"You could search for the Avatar and help him restore balance to the world," Iroh suggested, his voice as close to silent as he could. "Then you could go wherever you wanted."

Never in a million years did Iroh think he could seriously suggest that to his nephew. At least, not before they had found that...interesting scroll.

"Uncle, I already told you that I don't want anything to do with him," Zuko replied dispassionately, looking at the map which had many details added, such as the location of every spirit shrine...and the exact line and formation of the Fire Navy's blockade around the nation. "This would be so much easier if I didn't think the crew would snitch the second we got into port."

Iroh grunted. He trusted these men and knew them, even though they had been disgraced or weren't going anywhere fast in their careers; but he knew better than to say that they'd be alright with treason.

* * *

Aang knew things weren't going to turn out well when he saw the mob of villagers come out to meet them. Sure, the kids all seemed happy to see him but the adults were _mad_. Especially Sokka, who immediately came out and started hurling a guilty verdict in his direction.

Of course, Sokka was right and Aang admitted it because, well, he had learned a long time ago that it was better to confess when you did something wrong than to try to hide it and wind up piling a bunch of other wrong-doings on top of it in the process.

In spite of Katara's passionate defense, he was banished. _Banished_! From the Southern Water Tribe!

He had never been banished from a place before! The monks would _kill_ him for it too, because it made it harder for future monks to go there peacefully.

Well, he was exaggerating, but they would be really, really upset with him.

So there he sat, on top of an ice flow with his one and only good friend, Appa, trying to meditate and figure out what to do.

Appa grumbled at Aang.

"I know," Aang sighed. "I liked her too."

With that, the Monk jumped up on Appa.

"Come on boy, we got to go," Aang snapped the reins. "Yip-yip!"

Appa took off and Aang took one last look at the ice flows.

Absent, was the surprise, massive invading force that Sokka had feared. More realistically, there was no Fire Prince intent on hunting him down. No firebenders ready to raze the home of his friends to the ground.

There was nothing but water and ice.

So with a sigh and heavy heart, Aang left the South Pole.

Even though something inside was desperately trying to tell him not to go.

* * *

Sokka got ready for war. Wrapped in leather, and painted with warpaint, he got ready for the incursion of the Fire Nation.

He took a station at the wall, where his watch-tower was supposed to be but had been brought down through Aang's careless actions.

_It's just so stupid_, Sokka thought in anger. _The Fire Nation killed all the Air Nomads, why would Aang help them by leading them straight too us?_

He growled softly in frustration, not loud enough for any of the kids to hear. _Did he really not know about the war? How long was he in that ice for?_

With his hands on his weapons, Sokka kept a close eye on the horizon, scanning for the guaranteed, inbound attack on their village coming courtesy of the Fire Nation.

_It doesn't matter,_ Sokka thought resolutely. _I have to keep them safe. For Dad._

So he waited.

He waited the entire day.

And another day.

He held vigil a third day.

Then on the fourth day, Sokka's vigil was interrupted by the member of his tribe that was the most put off by the Air Nomad's departure.

"So! Sokka!" Katara's slightly shrill and annoyed voice came up to him. "Where's the Fire Nation?"

Sokka groaned in annoyance, knowing what was coming and was_ not_ looking forward too it."They're not here yet!"

"I thought that Aang had lead them right too us!" Katara shouted back up. "Where's the war, Sokka?"

Sokka tried to ignore her. He really did. "It's not here yet!"

"It's been three days, how could it not be here yet?" Katara shouted back, her anger starting to seep through to her voice. "I thought we banished the first person who brought fun back to our village because he doomed us all!"

Katara was never going to let him live this down and Sokka knew it.

"Okay, maybe I overreacted," Sokka allowed loudly, still pointedly keeping his gaze on the horizon.

"Maybe?" Katara shouted, the wall starting to crack as the first warning sign that his sister was really, really upset? "_Maybe_ you overreacted?!"

"Katara!" Sokka called down, grabbing the snow wall and gripping it for dear life as the wall below him started to crumble. "Calm down!"

That was the absolute worst thing he could've sat at this particular second.

"Calm down?" Katara roared, the wall cracking even further. "After you banished what was probably the last airbender from our village?"

The wall broke, causing Sokka to fall and slide into a pile of fresh snow, right in front of his sisters angry, raging face. "He was going to take me to the North Pole! We were going to find a Water Bending Master!"

His sister was crying, which made Sokka feel like the worst human being the world had ever seen.

"And now, thanks to you," Katara's breathing was uneven and she had stopped shouting, at least. "He's flown off to who knows where and thinks he can't come back!"

She stormed off through the hole in the wall, still crying.

_Aang wasn't really trying to help the fire nation,_ Sokka realized with a groan. _He was just being an idiot. And now I look like an idiot because there's no Fire Nation attack._

"Katara, wait!"

* * *

Zuko and Iroh were enjoying dinner together on the bridge with Lieutenant Jee and the Helmsman. Lieutenant Jee, because he was also an officer and the Helmsman because he couldn't really leave his post and Iroh thought it was rude to eat in front of him.

"So you developed lightning redirection from watching Water Benders," Zuko began, placing some meat in his mouth.

"Indeed," Iroh answered. "Water Bending is all centered in joining a flow of energy and redirecting it, as opposed to Fire Bending, which creates energy that goes where we tell it."

"I don't get it," Zuko replied.

"Are we adding Water Bending to the Prince's studies, now?" Lieutenant Jee asked with an annoyed expression.

"Well, the Avatar probably knows it already so better to understand what he can throw at us," Zuko replied with a shrug. "And we got smokebending out of airbending, so..."

"Is there a problem, Lieutenant Jee?" General Iroh asked, taking a sip of his tea.

"With all due respect General, Your highness," Jee began. "But it seems like the Prince is more concerned with seeing the world and learning inferior bending forms than truly hunting the Avatar."

Zuko shrugged. "To be honest Lieutenant, I am."

Iroh and Jee both looked surprised.

"Why is that, your highness?" Jee asked with confusion.

"The Avatar will not be found until he reveals himself," Zuko pointed out with a frown. "We could go, say, to the South Pole like you suggested last week to look for him. It's a good idea. Except that if he were there, the Southern Raider's would've encountered him. And been humiliated. No. I say there is no point in actively looking for the Avatar until the right time. I'm using...Uncle, what's it called? Blank Jing?"

"Neutral Jing," Iroh corrected with a slow nod. "Which, incidentally, is the key to Earth Bending."

Zuko frowned thoughtfully, filing that little tidbit of information away for later. "Neat."

"I hadn't considered that, your highness," Jee said with a bow in his seat. "My apologies for doubting you."

"I'm not mad," Zuko replied with a shake of his head. "Preparation can look like you're not doing anything important, right Uncle?"

"I agree, Prince Zuko," Iroh agreed.

Dinner continued until Lieutenant Jee finished. "If I may be excused, I need to make my rounds before I retire."

"Go ahead, Lieutenant," Iroh dismissed him with a kind smile.

With a bow, Lieutenant Jee left the bridge. After a few more minutes, the helmsman finished his dinner and got back on the wheel, weighing anchor to set sail as he'd been ordered. The ship would be going up towards the northern coast of the Earth Kingdom before turning back around to come down the west.

"I hadn't realized you'd become adept at lying," Iroh whispered neutrally, his expression passive.

"It wasn't a lie," Zuko replied with equal discretion. "It's the only truthful reason I have for stalling."

"So will you actually chase the Avatar?" Iroh asked with a frown. "If or when he reveals himself?"

"No," Zuko shook his head with an annoyed expression. "But I'll have to think of something, won't I?"

"It's not like you'd have anything else to do once we've finished tracking your mother," Iroh pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "Once you find someone or even something to smuggle you across the Naval Blockade, you'll be able to easily get to Hira'a."

"That's the trick, isn't it?" Zuko asked with annoyance. "First, it was finding a map with the village on it. Then it was finding out where the holes to the blockade were, turns out none. If I could just buy a whole other ship and crew it for a single voyage, this would be simple. But none of the colonies will sell me a ship and I need a Fire Nation ship to get past the blockade."

"Or something else," Iroh pointed out.

"Like what, a flying bison?" Zuko asked, remembering that the Airbending Scroll talked about the Bison _extensively_. "Those are extinct. I don't even think the Avatar would have one even if he did reappear."

"You never know."

* * *

After a week of flying, Aang had finally made it. The Southern Air Temple.

It was as tall, open and beautiful as he remembered it. The spires reached through the clouds and the wind seemed to blow with an eagerness to it around him, as if the place was welcoming him home.

But what he saw was just as important as what he didn't see, and he frowned. "Where is everyone? Shouldn't there be Monks and Bison flying around?"

Appa let out a low rumble.

"Maybe they're all still doing their morning practice," Aang said with a slow nod. "Thanks, buddy!"

The last Airbender took his Bison in for a landing.

* * *

_Author's Note: Don't kill me. Katara and Sokka's role in this fic isn't done yet but, if you watch the Boy in the Iceberg, you see that the only reason Katara and Sokka got together as quick as they did was because Zuko was there to force Aang's hand and violate his banishment to save everyone. __No Zuko, nothing forcing Aang to stay and so he leaves._

_ To illustrate this point, Zuko's on the other side of the world and deliberately ignoring calls to go back to the South Pole because he's busy trying to figure out how to get back into the Fire Nation without anyone knowing._

_ Also, yes. I know Uncle Iroh is being really, really heavy handed. But then, Zuko's become the type of person you almost _need_ to be heavy handed with just to get him to listen...so just like in canon, but with the opposite advice._

_ Special thanks and shout out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven_ and_ Handwran. _Your continued support helps make this possible._

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	7. Realizations

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

It had been about a week since Aang's departure.

Sokka looked out across the horizon and saw that, still, there was no Fire Nation. He felt like he had done something nearly unforgivably wrong, but he couldn't figure out why. When they talked about it, Gran-gran had backed him up, pointing out how they all needed to do be reliable and that if Aang _had_ accidentally signaled the Fire Nation, the village would have been wiped out.

The mental image make Sokka shiver.

He was probably just feeling bad about how upset Katara was with him. Yeah, that was it.

...something was _wrong_.

Sokka shook his head. He could think about that later, right now he needed to find Katara, who had been gone for an hour and he was starting to get worried that maybe she had run off to go find Aang on her own. He doubted it, but she'd done crazy things before…

She wasn't in the smoke-hut, wasn't in the village square and wasn't trying to eek out extra seconds of precious sleep. The last place to check would be…

He sighed and rolled his shoulders. "Gran-gran, I'm checking the shrine. Be back in a few."

"Be careful, Sokka," Gran-gran told him as he left.

Sokka walked out to the ice flows and made a hard left, circling around the walls until he found himself at the back of the wall, then he went straight back until he came across a hole in the snow, a ramp going down into the underground.

It certainly didn't look like it, but the south pole wasn't all ice and snow. Beneath the thick layer of snow was earth and in that earth a cavern had been dug. Sokka walked down the ramp and came to the small alcove.

This was the home of the village shrine. The shrine was to the avatar; a piddling thing with a single statue of Avatar Kuruk. It was dark with very little in the way of lighting unless you brought a lantern.

Standing in front of the statue was Katara, who had hung a lantern on the wall and was standing in front of it.

"Hey, Katara," Sokka said, startling his sister. "You about done?"

Katara looked at him, glared, then turned back toward the shrine.

"Katara," Sokka started, before grunted. "Whatever. I just wanted to let you know the laundry hasn't been done and Gran-gran needs help with the seal jerky."

"You know what, Sokka?" Katara started dangerously, turning on her heel. "You can wash your own dirty socks today! And you know what else?"

Sokka took a deep breath. _Here we go_.

* * *

Aang hopped off of Appa's back.

Contrary to what he had been hoping for, the temple looked like it was deserted. A cold breeze washed over his face and sent a chill down his spine. He had never seen the temple so empty before. There was always someone flying around somewhere, walking down a path or jumping. But there was no one here.

Maybe it would have been better if he had a few friends to explore with him!

That thought just made Aang sigh in depression.

He walked up the stairs that were carved out the side of the mountain and passed the air ball field. He remembered setting time aside for a game every day while he was staying at the temple, playing with his friends.

That was before he was told he was the Avatar and then none of his friends wanted to play with him anymore.

Aang shook his head and caught himself looking at something decidedly...foreign. He blinked and stared at the snowbank, the chill of the mountain air seeping into his blood.

"No..."

He rushed forward and with a gust of air, knocked the snow out of the way, revealing only a helmet of black and red steel. Aang took it in his hands, his eyes wide and his heart having stopped.

He looked left and right. "Gyatso? Gyatso!"

His logical brain then caught up with him and told him that Gyatso was long, long dead. He had been gone for a hundred years. "Hello? Anyone? Is anyone there? Hello?"

He ran up the side of the mountain into the library. Rapidly, he looked everywhere, trying to find some inclination of where everyone was. But the only occupants of the library were himself and the rotten remains of the scrolls that Aang had once poured over to replace the one that he had lost so long ago.

Still frantically searching, he jumped out of the library and glided out on his staff, autumn colored wings stretching out above him. He came down to his old masters home, Gyatso and threw open the door.

That is when Aang first encountered the horrors of war.

In the center of the hut, lie Gyatso, the skeleton of the airbending master lying within the snow that had settled within the building. Around it's neck was the amulet his master and teacher had worn so long ago. Surrounding the impromptu grave were suits of black armor, the remains inside of them in varying states of crumbling to dust.

Aang stopped being able to breathe. He fell to his knees, his eyes starting to water as he desperately tried to summon his voice to deny the sight that lay before him. But he couldn't.

His eyes were not lying to him and this he knew.

And perhaps for the first time in a hundred years, the hut saw unnatural light.

* * *

Sokka and Katara were in the heat of battle. Well, as heated as an argument with a sibling could be.

"Look, I made a promise to Dad!" Sokka shouted, pointing up the stone ramp. "And he put the entire tribe in jeopardy!"

"Jeopardy from what?" Katara yelled back, putting a finger between Sokka's eyes. "He let out one measly flare and nothing happened!"

"But something could've!" Sokka bellowed.

"But it didn't!"

Their argument was cut short when the small alcove was filled with unnatural blue light.

Sokka and Katara's eyes both went wide as the statue of Avatar Kuruk's eyes were glowing bright like a pair of miniature cobalt suns that illuminated their faces.

Katara blinked. "Aang..."

* * *

Across the world, similar things were happening. On the opposite side of the world, the shine that the Northern Water Tribe had kept pristine shined. In the Earth Kingdom, their wall mural of the Avatar's from ages past startled the sages with it's sudden and violent burst of energy. In the very halls of the Fire Temple, the sages were scrambling to inform the Fire Lord that the one greatest threat to their conquest had reappeared.

Wherever there was a shrine, there was light. Candles would glow with spiritual power, statues would shine like the sun. There was not a home, town or city that did not know and understand this one, undeniable truth.

The Avatar, bridge between worlds, had returned.

It's too bad that a certain Fire Prince missed it because he was at sea.

* * *

On top of the Southern Air Temple, it was a disaster in progress. A hurricane threatened to rip and tear every body, stone and tree out of the ground and into the clouds. In fact, some trees already did. Flying Lemurs had already fled the mountain top as quickly as they could when they sensed the raw, elemental fury about to be unleashed.

For his part, Aang could not hear anything over the sound of his own fury. His omnipotent rage clawing through the winds and slicing through the trees. Appa was flying above the swirling vortex, looking down at his oldest and best friend and trying to figure out how to help him.

But the storm would rage on, for hours and hours until the sun finally set upon the horizon. Avatar Aang, in all his fury and all his power, felt his strength leave him as he slowly and gingerly set himself on the floor. There he lay, his face in his hands, sobbing uncontrollably.

_I should__n't__ have left,_ Aang thought. _No, no, no…_

Sensing that things were safe once again, Appa gently sat down beside Aang and curled around the boy.

"What do I do, boy?" Aang asked, embracing one of Appa's massive legs. "I'm the Avatar and I was supposed to stop stuff like this from happening.

Appa let out a low rumble, bringing his tail over Aang like a makeshift blanket.

"Now the nomads are all gone and the world's been at war for a hundred years," Aang groaned into his friend and animal guide's fur. "What do I do? I can't stop this! I'm just an airbender and all the friends I made over the years are dead!"

With another rumble, Appa slowly laid down next to the distressed airbender.

"I can't do this on my own." Aang shook his head.

At Aang's declaration, Appa let out a groan.

"Wait," Aang thought for a minute. "But I've got a new friend! But I got banished! If I just show up again, it'll just cause more problems."

Appa just looked down at Aang.

"Maybe if I go down there, apologize for putting everyone in danger," Aang started, creating a half-baked plan in his head. "Then maybe they'll at least point me in the right direction. Maybe she'll come with me, boy!"

Appa then yawned, rolling onto his stomach. Aang then saw that the sun had long since set.

"Alright, we'll leave for the South Pole again tomorrow," Aang said, suddenly awash as if things were going to be okay. Or at least, managed. "Thanks, buddy."

Appa let out an approving rumble.

* * *

"I think Aang was the Avatar," Katara said with conviction.

She was sitting in the Chieftain's tent, a bowl of soup in her hands, sitting in a semi-circle with Gran-gran and Sokka.

Sokka had frozen in the middle of spooning some soup in his mouth as he looked at his sister. "Really? Are you sure you're not just saying that because he was going to take you to the North Pole?"

"Sokka!" Katara snapped hotly. "I'm serious! Didn't you see the statue? It was glowing the same way the iceberg was!"

"Okay sure, the iceberg and the statue were glowing in the same, spooky way," Sokka allowed with narrowed eyes. "That doesn't mean they're connected!"

"Sure it does!" Katara argued hotly.

"How?" Sokka asked.

"The iceberg we found Aang in was glowing. He's the last airbender," Katara recounted with a glare. "The Fire Nation attacked the Air Nomad's to kill the Avatar, but they apparently missed one. Then, when we find an Airbender that's been on Ice since _before the war_, his ice berg is glowing, then a week later, the statue of Kuruk starts glowing the same way!"

"That's just all circumstantial," Sokka waved off, inhaling a spoonful of soup.

"But it fits!" Katara insisted. "I think Aang finally figured out what happened to the rest of the nomads and he started glowing again!"

"Gran-gran," Sokka began, turning to his elder. "Help me out here! Explain why Katara's wrong."

Katara huffed and growled in anger.

"Sokka, I know that Aang needed to be banished for the safety of the tribe," Gran-gran began. "His lack of respect for our rules and safety could not be ignored. But I think Katara is right."

"You do?" Both siblings asked at the same time.

"Yes, I do," Gran-gran replied. "My instincts are never wrong and I felt it in my bones that there was something off about Aang."

"Okay, so then what do we do?" Sokka asked with a glare. "If he really is the Avatar, what difference does it make to us? What do we do?"

"We pray," Gran-gran replied. "That the Avatar will bring balance back to the four nations as swiftly as he can."

* * *

Zuko had pulled into port just this past hour and was looking at the town's bulletin board with no shortage of smug satisfaction.

He was staring directly at a wanted poster with a Blue Oni mask painted on it with a bounty that had gone up by another thousand since the last poster he had seen, wanted for crimes such as military sabotage, theft, espionage and so on.

"Are you thinking of adding the Blue Spirit to our list of targets, your highness?" One of the crewman, a non-bender, said, walking past Zuko with a crate full of supplies on his shoulder.

Zuko smirked. "No. Just admiring the thing's gall."

"You think there's any truth to what they say?" The crewman asked. "That it really is a spirit exacting vengeance on the Fire Nation for trying to spread our glory everywhere."

"It wouldn't surprise me," Zuko answered with a nod. "Have you seen my Uncle?"

"I think he was visiting the local shrine," The sailor replied, gesturing behind him with his head.

"Alright, get that on board quick," Zuko ordered with a frown.

"Yes, your highness," The crewman replied.

Zuko followed the road that had been indicated. The shrine was just a small thing, built in a gazebo. Uncle Iroh was standing in front of it, talking with one of the villagers.

"Uncle Iroh, we're about to put out," Zuko called as he walked up to his Uncle. "I want us out of port before noon."

Iroh had this smug grin on his face and it took Zuko a second before he got the danger signals. "Prince Zuko."

Zuko got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Leaving port so quickly is wise," Iroh approved with a nod. "Now tell me, have you heard the good news?"

"...no."

"Shrine here lit up like a fireworks display yesterday," Iroh explained, gesturing to the gazebo. "Tell me, Prince Zuko. Do you know what that means?"

"No." This was a lie. Zuko knew _exactly_ what this meant.

"It means," Iroh began with a grin that told Zuko just how much he was enjoying this. "That the Avatar has returned."

Zuko slowly shut his eyes and opened them again with the pains of a damned soul.

He felt as if something inside him was being violently stabbed to death with ice knives and had to resist the almost overpowering urge to throw his fists into the air and scream at the sky with all of his rage, pain and thwarted dreams.

As it stood, Zuko did swallow hard. "Do we know where he is?"

"No," Iroh shook his head. "But I think we should be on watch to make sure we can swiftly respond to reports of his presence."

"That sounds like a good idea," Zuko replied through grit teeth. "What do you recommend?"

"Putting out to sea as quickly as possible," Iroh replied with a smile. "And start our search anew."

Zuko's scarred eye was twitching.

"Perhaps Lieutenant Jee's suggestion to search the South Pole will hold water," Iroh theorized, stroking his beard. He didn't actually know if the Avatar was there or not, but he did want Zuko to get back on track traveling the world and hopefully, getting more ready to take the throne as Iroh knew was his nephew's destiny. "If not, then perhaps we might be able to pick up a trail and track him down."

"Uncle, it will take us over two months to get there," Zuko replied with an annoyed glare. "If anything, he'll either be in the North Pole or going to the North pole to amass an army if he isn't heading inland to the Earth Kingdom."

Iroh blinked and cursed his nephew's ability to logic out a problem. He wasn't nearly that clear headed a year ago.

"Our best bet is to sail around the northern coasts and wait until we either hear something about the Avatar amassing an army or moving somewhere," Zuko replied. "That way we can intercept him as he goes to the North Pole."

Iroh's eyebrow rose in fascination. Was his Nephew starting to fall back into his desire to hunt the Avatar?

"Realistically, though," Zuko began with a sigh and a small smirk. "The Avatar will sneak past our single ship and completely evade our cunning trap for him. But at least we were in the general area, right?"

Of course not. "It would be more effective if we used the feelers we've been putting out to gather information on his movements, in addition to using my contacts in the Army and Navy. So should we not move to the...equator? It would give us the greatest range of movement to respond and go in whichever direction we please."

Zuko thought this over. "Alright. We'll set up a base at the Merchant's Pier. I might be able to find something to help us...find the Avatar. And other things."

_It's a start_, Iroh thought. "I will go inform the helmsman."

* * *

_Author's Notes: A little short for my tastes, but that's fine, I guess. I knew Zuko was going to find out much later than in canon, but how much later? Given how the entire world seemed to know and accept Aang was the Avatar, it only stood to reason that the entire world learned that the Avatar had returned, through what is likely the same method: Glowing Shrines. Zuko doesn't have a shrine aboard his ship, so he learned a day later than the rest of the world._

_ Shout out goes out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven_and_Handwran. _Thank you for your continued support._

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	8. New Journeys

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

"Katara, what are you doing?" Sokka asked, looking at his sister in alarm.

His sister was currently standing in a small boat, counting everything she had stocked within. She looked at her brother with a glare. "What's it look like I'm doing, Sokka? I'm leaving!"

The boat was perhaps the only sailboat the village had left, large enough to have a cabin to sleep in during any voyage. The sail was furled up and it was tied to the ice with a rope.

"You're what?" Sokka yelped in alarm. "Katara, you can't be serious!"

"Oh, I'm serious," Katara barked, hands on her hips. "He needs help and if he can't come back here to get it, we're going to him."

Sokka simply stared at her with a confused expression before responding. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"The North Pole!" Katara snapped in response. "Aang needs our help and that's where he's going to learn Waterbending."

"How do you know that?" Sokka asked with exasperation.

"Because he's only an airbender," Katara replied. "And the Avatar cycle goes from air to water, to earth to fire. So the first place he's going is the North Pole, since there's got to be a Waterbending Master there."

"Katara, the North Pole is on the other side of the world!" Sokka pointed out the obvious. "Do you have any idea how long it'll take you to get there by boat?"

"I don't care," Katara snapped. "Now if you aren't going to be helpful, go away."

"Do you even know how you're going to get there?" Sokka asked.

"I'll figure it out!" Katara shouted and stomped, causing the ice below them to start breaking. "Go! Away!"

"Alright, alright," Sokka quickly admitted defeat, turning tail. He took a deep breath and started muttering to himself. "Gotta find Gran-gran...and a map."

Grumbling to herself in frustration, she got to work organizing her load into the boat. "Shouldn't have let him go alone. I wanted to go but no..."

She bent down with her knees and picked up the box she just placed in the boat, moving it, slowly, into the cabin. "Family comes first."

She looked up at the sail and realized that she had only been been told how to sail once when she was a small girl and thus had only the smallest idea of how she was going to get out to sea.

"Katara?"

Katara growled in irritation as the sound of her Grandmother's voice. She walked to the main deck and saw that Sokka had called in reinforcements.

"You can't stop me, Gran-gran," Katara told her. "I should've left with Aang when Sokka banished him and now he needs our help."

"Do you know how you're going to get there?" Gran-gran asked with a frown.

"I'll figure it out!"

"Well, come ashore," Gran-gran told her. "Sokka brought a map."

Katara blinked and looked at her brother, who was indeed holding a rolled up leather map. Cautiously, she stepped over the railings and back onto the ice. As she did, Sokka unrolled the map on the ice.

"Okay, so the distance between us and the north pole is almost twelve-thousand five hundred miles," Sokka explained, pointing at the map. "That's one way. So if you sailed along the straightest path there, it'll take you months to get there. Months!"

Katara's eyes narrowed. "Months it is! What's the straightest path?"

"You're serious," Sokka replied with a gaping mouth. "You're crazy."

"Well you don't have to come with, Sokka," Katara told him sweetly.

Sokka groaned. "If you go, then yes I do."

"No you don't," Katara snapped sharply. "I can look after myself just fine."

"Katara," Gran-gran started levelly. "No, you can't."

"Sure I can, I'm a Waterbender," Katara replied dismissively.

"Without any training and you don't know how to use any weapons," Gran-gran continued to pour frozen rain all over Katara's parade. "If you intend to make the journey across the globe, you will need your brother's protection."

"And if you go, I promised Dad I'd keep you safe," Sokka pointed out with a frown. "And if I go with you, I can't protect the village."

"Sokka," Gran-gran started with an annoyed look. "Aang is the Avatar. If your sister is right, and I believe she is, then going to assist him is much more important that keeping our small and easily hidden tribe safe.

"But...but..." Sokka started, unable to talk. "But Gran-gran!"

"Katara," Gran-gran started with a serious expression. "Are you absolutely sure that going off on this quest is the right thing to do?"

She looked right into her grandmother's eyes when she answered. "Yes."

"Alright," Gran-gran nodded. "Sokka, what route are you suggesting?"

"If we travel along the coast of the Earth Kingdom, it'll mostly be a straight line through the Mo Ce Sea," Sokka replied, tracing the route along with his finger. "We can stop at a few of the villages to refill our supplies. If we cut through this center channel here, we can cut right through the Earth Kingdom to get to the north pole in five? Five to six months. Our first stop would be here at...Kyoshi Island? Just to refill our supplies before we come to the main coast."

"How long will it take us to get there?" Katara asked.

"Two weeks," Sokka answered.

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Katara said, rubbing her hands together.

"Do you have enough supplies for the trip?" Sokka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, I have enough," Katara replied.

Sokka had a disbelieving expression as he stood up and stepped into the ship, looking at where the supplies were stored in the cabin. "Yeah, no. That's not enough. Maybe if we were fat enough to eat ourselves, it'd be enough, but we're not."

"Well, it's not my fault you can eat an entire dolphin shark on your own!" Katara snipped, joining him on the boat.

"That was just on a dare!" Sokka rebuked sharply. "And it was just a baby!"

"Enough!" Gran-gran shouted, grabbing both siblings by their ears and pulling them back onto shore. "You are _not_ going to be crossing the ocean bickering like toddlers! You will kiss and make up right now, or you're both forbidden from leaving the village!"

Gran-gran folded her arms and glared at the two siblings, who were looking at each other angrily at first, then...sheepishly.

"Katara," Sokka started. "I'm sorry I had to throw out your chance at getting a Waterbending Master."

"It's okay," Katara sighed. "I should've put my foot down when Aang insisted we explore the fire nation ship. This whole thing is my fault and I'm sorry for getting mad. Forgive me?"

"Yup!"

The two embraced in a strong, sibling hug.

"Good," Gran-gran let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

The trip to the Merchant's pier only took a few days in Zuko's ship. In spite of his irritation at how the universe was willing to give him the quarry he had sought only a year _after_ he had stopped caring about it at all, this was turning out to not be so bad.

The crew had bought Zuko's explanation about waiting at the Pier to gain information on where the Avatar was going. Given the Pier's fairly central location with easy access to the Fire Nation, Ba Sing Se and a channel going to the North Pole, it was easy to see why the port was so successful.

Which meant that it would also be a haven for smugglers. Zuko knew _that_ but he had overestimated the amount of time he had to actually complete his goal of going to Hira'a. So having easy access to smugglers, especially the good ones, was going to be at a premium; he didn't know when a lead on the Avatar that he couldn't afford to miss without raising the crews suspicions would show up.

Zuko liked the crew, but he knew they wanted to go home almost as much as he used too. Counting on them for the search for his mother was unwise.

Still, though, Zuko felt like he had hit some sort of wall. He had tried to hire the services of some smugglers before. Multiple times, as a matter of fact, to get him into the Fire Nation. But every single time, those smugglers found themselves snatched up or destroyed somehow before they could actually ferry him. The first one earned a fortune somehow and defaulted on the contract. The second one was lost at sea. The third one died in a firefight with a Fire Nation cruiser. The latest one was arrested. By the fire nation. If he could get in and rescue him, he wouldn't need his services in the first place.

It was almost like the entire universe was telling him to forget about his mother, follow his Uncle's advice go after the Avatar. Zuko had only one response.

_No._

Now that that thought had been dealt with, it was time to make plans. Zuko had taken the crew ashore to establish a secret base within the Pier. A warehouse that had been sitting abandoned for nearly three years after it's previous owner died. So Zuko, under the assumed name of Lee, had purchased it. The crew was in the middle of renovating it to function as a proper base, for roughly ten of the crew, in addition to Zuko and Iroh to use.

Zuko was actually looking forward to using it. It was going to have a secret entrance, a room to store and sort through communications and keep tabs on each of the legitimate and seedy elements of the pier and an armory.

Though while his crew was busy building up their base, Zuko remembered that his Uncle wanted to speak to him. So the prince walked off, looking for his Uncle.

Uncle Iroh was sitting in the corner of the warehouse, meditating in front of a row of candles. It was a sign of his Uncle's mental fortitude that he was able to keep his focus even in the din of the construction. Zuko took a spot next to his Uncle and tried to join him. It wasn't like he was doing anything else while he waited for his Uncle to be finished. He was less than entirely successful, to his annoyance. The sound of hammers slamming into nails was difficult to tune out.

After a while, Iroh finally spoke. "Zuko, thank you for joining me. Would you be interested in a game of Pai Sho?"

There was something very odd about how his Uncle asked that question. But, again, he had already done his training today and he wasn't feeling overly anxious about anything, so he shrugged. "Sure, Uncle."

"Good," Iroh said with a nod, standing up.

They moved to a table that Iroh had set up on the outside of the warehouse and thankfully, the sounds of construction were much quieter on the outside.

"I feel that I must apologize, nephew," Iroh said, taking a seat and bringing out a box of Pai Sho tiles.

"For what?" Zuko asked with a frown.

"I had been pushing you to do what you want to do for so long," Iroh said, pulling the tiles out of their box and handing Zuko his set. "That when you finally did it, you did not go on the path that I had expected you too, so I began trying to push you back."

Zuko shrugged. "I didn't really notice."

"I credit your relaxed and flexible attitude for that," Iroh replied, setting the first tile, a white lotus in the center. "But the reason that I was pushing you back toward what you were assigned to do was because I was afraid that your sense of honor and responsibility departed with your spiritual wounds."

"Because I don't want to chase after the Avatar?" Zuko asked, setting his own tile.

"Because you want nothing to do with the land of your birth," Iroh answered.

"They made their bed with dragons," Zuko replied, looking off to the side. "It's their fault if they get eaten."

"I understand why you feel that way," Iroh said, placing his next tile. "And I understand the allure of a private and prosperous life. But I always thought you were destined for more."

"You were thinking I'd take the throne," Zuko clarified, looking over the tiles and muttering to himself. "I hate that opening..."

"I had thought your destiny was to lead the Fire Nation back to peace," Iroh replied. "But your destiny is determined by your choices. What you choose to do is up to you. But I believe you might be happy if you had the opportunity to find the Avatar and offer to help make things right."

"What makes you say that?" Zuko asked as he put down his tile.

"How you reacted after you learned the war with the Air Nomad's was not a series of battles, but a slaughter."

Zuko grumbled, watching his Uncle place the next tile down. "The only thing I want to do is stay out of his way."

"That is your choice." Iroh said. "But it occurred to me while I was meditating that perhaps it might be easier for you to focus if you found your mother. So, I checked around the Pier and I think I found a few...friends who would be able to help you."

"Really?" Zuko asked. His eyes narrowed, only briefly wondering where these friends had been for the past year. "Alright, who are they?"

"I can't tell you here," Iroh replied, stroking his beard. "But I can tell you how we are to be introduced."

Zuko's head tilted in interest. "I'm listening."

"First, let us restart the game," Iroh said, picking up his tiles.

* * *

The prince blinked, but did as his Uncle requested, scooping up his tiles.

After their 'game', the two had moved to a seedy bar, where an old man sat at a Pai Sho table, as was a common sight.

"May I have this game?" Zuko asked, placing a hand on the chair.

The old man smirked, looking up at the Prince with an amused expression. "The guest has the first move."

Zuko heeded his Uncle's instructions and placed a Lotus tile directly in the center.

The old man raised a fascinated eyebrow, cupping his hand toward Zuko. "I see you favor the white lotus gambit. Not many still cling to the ancient ways."

It took Zuko a second to remember the next phrase. "Those who do can always find a friend."

Iroh tapped him on the shoulder and Zuko remembered to cup his hands in a mirror of his opponent.

"Then let us play."

Then came the complicated part. Zuko did his best, Iroh only having to correct his placement a few times, before the two had created a lotus with the tiles they had placed.

"Welcome, brother. The White Lotus opens wide to those who know her secrets."

"I have yet to see them for myself," Zuko replied.

The old man hummed. "Very well, come with me. I have something to show you."

Zuko turned to Iroh, who simply nodded with a small smile. Zuko stood and the two of them followed the old man into what looked like a storage room. The old man turned on his heels.

"Welcome, both of you. I am Kung," The old man introduced himself with a bow. "I am assuming that your mentor here is your contact?"

"That is correct," Iroh said. After he introduced himself, he continued. "We need a way to smuggle junior here into the Fire Nation village of Hira'a, past the blockade."

"And for what purpose is that?" Kung asked.

"I'm looking for my mother," Zuko replied. "She disappeared when I was eight and I've always wondered what happened to her."

"Disappeared after a little court intrigue, eh?" Kung asked with a small smirk. "I'm afraid that usually doesn't bode well. But, we'll certainly see what we can do about getting you through the blockade."

"Thank you," Zuko replied. "Now, Uncle mentioned something about becoming an initiate?"

"That is the game we played," Kung replied.

"So," Zuko began. "Who are you?"

"We're an order dedicated to transcending the divides between nations, seeking to share ancient knowledge and truth," Kung explained. "Our order has undermined the Fire Nation's conquest for nearly a century, your highness and we've been very interested in you since you had abandoned your hunt for the Avatar."

"My great grandfather committed genocide," Zuko stated with all the gravitas of someone talking about the weather. "It's hard to hunt for someone when you can't even look him in the eye."

"So it is," Kung's eyes narrowed. "If you are serious about becoming an initiate, there is a trial that you will have to perform."

"Will I need to complete this trial before you get me past the blockade?" Zuko asked, eyes narrowing.

Iroh stepped forward. "No. I am a grand lotus, a way will be found past the blockade without that."

"Then what is the point of joining the order?" Zuko asked with a frown.

"Zuko, you want a life separate from the Fire Nation," Iroh pointed out. "The quickest way for a person of your noble stature to disappear is to have a network of support to allow them to leave. It just so happens that the Order can help you do exactly that."

The Prince's eyes went wide. "What's the price?"

"As an initiate, you may be called upon to complete certain tasks once you are relocated," Kung replied. "Though once you have proven your worth and have become a full member, we will only call upon you some of the time."

"What are these tasks?" Zuko asked, his eyes narrowing.

Kung simply leaned forward. "That depends; what skills do you possess?"

* * *

_Author's Note: Going to be frank, I was curious on what Zuko would be doing while he was waiting for the Gaang to actually get together and make their way up toward his area. Then I remembered 'wait, the white lotus is a thing' and here we are._

_ Hope you enjoyed. It's going to take a bit longer than I expected for the Gaang to get together, but I think that's fine._

_ Shout out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven_and_Handwran._Your continued support helps make this possible!_

_ Until the next time._

_ ~Fulcon_


	9. Complications

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

"So the wind's looking pretty good," Sokka said, pulling a line and putting the sail in a better position. "I think we might even make Kyoshi ahead of schedule!"

It was a beautiful day to sail. The wind was strong but not overbearing, there was not a cloud in the sky and above them the sun shined with a warmth that made the two siblings feel like it was smiling upon them.

"That's a relief," Katara replied, letting out a sigh and looking out across the water. She stretched out her hands and started trying to focus, moving her hands.

A stream of water sprung from the ocean, flowing in between her hands and coursing around her fingers as Katara practiced.

"Well, while you're playing with magic water, I'm going to check our maps," Sokka said, heading inside the cabin.

The water dropped from Katara's hands. "It's not magic it's-!"

But he was inside and out of earshot, so she simply growled in frustration and started again.

She was going to need to be her best so that she could help Aang when they found him again.

* * *

"There it is!" Aang said, pointing down at the village made of igloos and snow.

During his time at the temple, the pair had accidentally taken an unexpected visitor. On their first day back in the air, a Lemur who had stowed away in one of the bags on Appa's saddle had woken up and accidentally flew off of Appa before frantically flying back to the bison.

Aang adored the little guy immediately, naming him Momo and allowing him to stick around. Of course that did mean the supplies that Aang had hurriedly tucked away were being eaten a little faster than he'd like. Hopefully, that wouldn't matter so much since they were now in sight of civilization.

Appa rumbled as his rider took him down for a landing outside the village walls.

As he expected, there was a line of grown adults at the gates, wearing less than pleased faces. At the front, was Gran-gran, who looked _livid_. And shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"Look, I know I'm not supposed to be here," Aang let out like a machine gun for words. "I shouldn't have gone on that ship after Katara told me it was forbidden. I didn't listen. It was bad and I am bad and I'm really, really, really sorry. I just need to talk to Sokka and Katara and you'll never see me again, I promise."

Gran-gran blinked, her mouth turning from a shocked anger to an annoyed frown. "Answer me this one question. Are you the Avatar?"

Aang's eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets at that question. He gulped and sharply inhaled. "Yes, I'm the Avatar. I left the nomads when they told me because they wanted to send me to another temple. I got caught in a storm and that's how I got frozen in that iceberg."

"For some reason, I believe you," Gran-gran grunted. "But, I am afraid you have wasted your time. Sokka and Katara have left the village."

"What?" Aang asked with a thunderstruck expression. "Why, where did they go?"

"They left for the North Pole the day after the Shrine to Avatar Kuruk became active," Gran-gran replied. "Their first stop was going to be Kyoshi Island where they'd purchase additional supplies and then hopefully they'd meet you at the North Pole while you were learning to Waterbend."

Aang blinked. "They were coming to help me?"

Gran-gran nodded. "They were. Now get out of here and go find them!"

"Can I have some supplies first?" Aang asked with a sheepish look. "A flying lemur snuck into mine and ate some of them."

"A lemur," Gran-gran deadpanned.

On cue, the flying Lemur flew out of the saddle and landed on Aang's head.

The old woman started massaging her eyes. "All we have is some jerky, but you can have some, alright."

"Oh, never mind then," Aang said, hopping twenty feet in the air and landing on Appa's head. "I'm a vegetarian. I'll find something on the way. Come on, Appa! Yip-yip!"

* * *

Zuko and Iroh were sitting in their newly constructed hideout that had been walled off from the rest of the crew. In the center was a table that Uncle had procured from the markets of the pier that had a Pai-Sho board carved into the top. On the wall was a board with a map and communications _ostensibly_ about the Avatar pinned to it.

All they said was that there had been no sightings of him at all since the shrines had lit up and the communications between the army and navy were getting more frantic with every passing day.

But they weren't talking about the Avatar, they were talking about the Prince's real goal.

"The week of Winter Solstice?" Zuko asked with a frown. "That's the closest date they can get me in?"

"It will be a while before we can get everyone we need in place," Iroh replied with a shrug. "The white lotus has a few captains they can get stationed in the blockade that will let you in."

"Alright, I guess I can wait," Zuko said with a frown. "I just need something to do in the meantime."

"Well, if you decide to join the order, I imagine we'll have things for you to do," Iroh pointed out. "Though I understand why you've decided to take a step back and think it through."

"It just seems like a bad idea to tie my loyalties down until I absolutely have too," Zuko replied with a shrug. "Sure, they can help me...disappear, I don't see why I need to right this second."

Iroh gave a sage-like nod. "Perhaps we can begin by looking for Waterbending scrolls?"

"That's a good idea," Zuko nodded. "A trade hub like this has to have a few around. But there's not really a point unless those scrolls also talk about the philosophy behind the bending. Is there?"

"I suppose not," Iroh answered. "There's not really a way we can judge our performance otherwise, is there? Tell me, Zuko, what do you think a firebender can learn from Waterbending?"

Zuko blinked. "Well, you developed that lightning redirection form you told me about by watching Waterbenders, right? So maybe a better way of bending lightning?"

Iroh hummed. "Maybe, but I'm wondering if that's not a shallow way of looking at it."

He only got a shrug in response. "Probably."

* * *

"Land!" Sokka called, pointing straight ahead at the island in front of them.

Katara, who had just woken up, walked out of the cabin rubbing her eyes and yawning. "We finally made it!"

"Yes!" Sokka shouted enthusiastically. "I hope they take Water Tribe money because I am _starving!_"

At that second, the boat was rocked by a massive wave, the boat nearly capsizing as it was shoved out of the way. A massive shadow fell across the boat as a twenty-foot tall dorsal fin poked out of the water and blocked the sun. Sokka's heart stopped while Katara's blood had frozen in their veins.

The two siblings looked at each other and then around them as other dorsal fins stretched out of the water for a brief second before sinking beneath the water.

"Let's get ashore," Sokka said quickly.

"Yes. Let's."

They took the ship into the shallows, starting to work on circling the island, looking for a port. The massive cove they had come to looked like it should have had a dock or something built out from the shore, but there was nothing.

As they orbited the island on the sea, they only saw more of the same. No docks, ports or anywhere to bring their ship into for a resupply.

"Maybe their village is hidden?" Katara suggested with an uncertain expression.

"Probably. We'll bring the boat back into the cove," Sokka replied, turning the sail with a push of the lever. "And go looking."

So they did. Sokka took extra care to avoid the massive fins that periodically sprung out from under the water, each time making the hairs on the back of their neck stand up at attention like they were in an army. When the boat finally ran ashore, both of the water tribe siblings let out the tense breath that they didn't know they were holding.

"You know, if we had a bigger boat, we could probably catch one of those," Sokka pointed out, licking his lips.

"Come on, Sokka," Katara replied, rolling her eyes. "Let's see if we can find a village or something."

"Yeah, just give me a second to grab Boomerang and my club."

* * *

"There really aren't any water bending scrolls in the Pier?" Zuko asked with shock.

"No, Prince Zuko," Lieutenant Jee replied with a shake of his head. "This isn't the Poles, and they aren't exactly going to be keen on just handing scrolls out like candy."

Zuko let out a disappointed sigh. "Figures. Alright, perhaps we could put the word out that there's a buyer interested in obtaining these scrolls."

"If I may, your highness," Jee began. "Last night when the crew when I was off duty, I heard some rumors shared between some of the traders. Apparently, there's a tribe of water benders that lives independently of the poles."

Zuko blinked. "Really? Where did these traders say they were?"

"A place called the Foggy Swamp," Lieutenant Jee replied, pointing toward it's spot on the map that Zuko had been sitting at. "I did some research and the swamp does exist, though it's reportedly infested with hostile spirits. As for the benders, there's more than one account of them I was able to find. They're real, alright."

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "That would take weeks to get too. Alright, lets make plans to head over there following the Winter Solstice. If we don't find information on the Avatar by then, obviously we'll need to try a different track. Thank you, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, your highness." Jee bowed.

"Will that be all?" Zuko asked.

"Yes," Jee replied. "By your leave."

Zuko nodded and Jee left Zuko's private war room, just as Iroh entered. "Did he tell you about the swamp benders?"

"Have you met them before, Uncle?" Zuko asked with an analytical expression.

"No, but I had heard whispers about them during my march to the wall of Ba Sing Se," Iroh responded, sitting down. "Though I had also heard that they were not just water benders, but plant benders."

"_Plant_ benders?" Zuko asked with an intrigued and delighted smile. "Okay, that I got to see. After Winter Solstice."

Iroh hummed. "Don't want to miss the window, do we?"

"We do not," Zuko replied with the smallest frown. "Uncle, if the White Lotus were to help me disappear, where would they send me?"

"Well to be honest, Zuko, they would likely send you to Ba Sing Se," Iroh replied. "We haven't had agents there in decades, as I've been told."

"What would I be doing there?" Zuko asked.

"You would be trying to find out why Ba Sing Se has not done anything to formally join the war," Iroh responded. The conversation halted when a Yeoman knocked on the door and walked in with lunch. After the Yeoman left, they continued. "It would be up to you to find out why."

"They'd want me to to get involved in the war?" Zuko asked, looking decidedly unimpressed.

"No," Iroh shook his head. "You'd only be an initiate. They'd just want to know why the Earth King has not responded to the Fire Nation's repeated incursions on it's massive wall. I got through and they still have not responded. Your job would be to find out and report back. Easy."

"And that's it?" Zuko asked, sounding a little confused.

"That would be it," Iroh nodded. "Of course, if you progressed beyond the rank of initiate, you might be asked to do more..."

"No, no," Zuko hurriedly shut him down, shaking his head. "Initiate is good."

Iroh suppressed his frown. "It's your choice, Prince Zuko."

* * *

"Appa, there it is!" Aang shouted, pointing down at their island destination. With a rumble, Appa descended down upon the cove, right next to a wooden sail-boat that was very clearly Water Tribe. "They're definitely here alright!"

Aang hopped aboard the boat and saw the blue sleeping bags on the floor, which just added to Aang's enthusiasm. _I'll get to see Katara again! It's going to be so awesome._

His attention was pulled when a rumble sounded, followed by something heavy hitting the ground. Appa was laying on the ground.

"Alright, you rest boy," Aang said, twirling his airbending staff and snapping the wings open. "I'll go and look for them."

He jumped into the air and hooked his ankles around the bottom, flying forward on bent gusts of air. Sometimes he wished he could fly _without_ his glider; much like Appa did. But he wasn't entirely sure how he could pull that off whenever he thought about it. Maybe he could ask his old buddy one day how he did it and try to figure out the answer.

But until then, he had to find Sokka and Katara and pick them up.

He glided through the trees, turning and dodging around the tree branches as they came. If he remembered right from what he saw above, the main village was near the center of the island, so he'd probably run into them over there.

"Wait, who are you?" Aang heard loudly to his left. "Where are the men who ambushed us?"

"Sokka!" Aang cheered, making a sharp turn toward the sound of the voice.

"There were no men, we ambushed you!" Rebuffed a female voice as Aang took a perch in a tree among the leaves. "Now tell us, who are you and what are you doing here?"

Sokka and Katara were tied straight to a large wooden post apparently at the entrance to their village. The two looked unharmed for the most part, but clearly annoyed.

"Don't mind him," Katara said diplomatically, but quickly. "We're just travelers from the Southern Water Tribe, we came here to replenish our supplies for our trip to the North Pole."

"And how do we know you're not Fire Nation spies?" This came from an old man that was standing among the female warriors. "Kyoshi Island has stayed out of the war and we intend to keep it that way!"

"Why would we spy for the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked sounding both confused and insulted. "They've attacked us a bunch of times! We even have a ship trapped in the ice back home to prove it!"

"That doesn't prove anything," The first girl pointed out. "They could just be Fire Nation colonials dressed in blue."

"Hey no," Sokka started trying to sound as stern and authoritative as possible. "No! Would a Fire Nation Colonial, whatever that is, have a Water Tribe club and boomerang?"

"Yes," The old man replied, hefting said club in one of his hands. "Best we feed them to the Unagi. We can't be too careful."

_Not good!_ Aang thought, jumping into action immediately. He landed between the warriors dressed in green and his friends, blasting the opposing force with enough wind to knock them off their feat and send them flying.

"Aang!" Katara shouted, sounding relieved. "You're here!"

"Glad I found you," Aang said, before turning his attention back to the Kyoshi Warriors. He blasted them with another gust of wind, forcing them against the trees of the forest before leaping forward and grabbing Sokka's club and boomerang.

With a single leap, Aang jumped back and cut the siblings free with Sokka's boomerang. "Come on! Appa's on the shore by your ship, let's get out of here!"

The trio, now reunited, bolted down the path laid for them, running past the warrior women who were struggling to get up.

"Wait, how did you find us?" Sokka asked, hoofing it as quickly as his legs could carry him.

"Your gran-gran said you were heading to the North Pole," Aang explained as they ran. "She told me your first stop was Kyoshi Island, so here I am!"

"Wait!" The voice of the warrior from before sounded from behind him.

Aang, not particularly in the mood to potentially lose the only friends he had in the world right now, stopped and sent yet another severe blast of air directly at the pursuing warriors, sending them scrambling as they made to dodge the wave.

They came to the shore and when Appa saw them, he stood up with a rumble.

"Get on the saddle, get on the saddle!" Aang shouted, helping both Sokka and Katara up onto the saddle. He hopped onto Appa's head and grabbed the reins. "Quick, Appa! We gotta get out of here! Yip-yip!"

Right as Appa started to lift off, the Kyoshi Warrior broke the clearing. Their leader, a girl with short brown hair outstretched her hands in an attempt to call them back. "Wait! We-"

* * *

"...didn't know...you were friends of the Avatar," Suki found her volume decreasing as the flying Bison took off, leaving her and her warriors in the dust. With a groan of annoyed embarrassment, she rubbed her eyes with her fingers and thumb.

"Well," One of her other warriors began. "At least we didn't feed them to the Unagi."

That just made Suki groan even louder.

* * *

"We're flying, we're flying!" Sokka shouted enthusiastically. "So long, you crazy-!"

He was stopped when he caught sight of Katara's somewhat smug expression.

"Yeah, I mean...we're flying," Sokka amended, adopting a cool and calm exterior.

"It's okay, Sokka," Aang beamed with the largest smile either of them had ever seen on a person. "Flying is awesome!"

"Thank you so much," Katara said, wrapping Aang up in a hug and kissing his cheek, making him turn pink. "I thought we were done for!"

"It was nothing, really," Aang downplayed with a bashful expression. "Really, it was fine. I'm sorry you had to go through that. I didn't know you guys had left the Tribe."

"Well, it was Katara's idea," Sokka replied, pointing the finger of blame at his sister. "She figured out you were the Avatar and decided she wanted to help. I couldn't let her go on alone, so here we are."

"How did you figure out I was the Avatar?" Aang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Call it a gut feeling," Katara answered. "But the fact that the Iceberg was glowing when we broke you out of it like how the shrine of Avatar Kuruk was glowing kind of clinched it for me."

"Oh. The shrines all lit up?" Aang asked.

"Like a sun," Sokka replied. "What happened?"

Aang looked down at the saddle. "I went to the Southern Air Temple and...I found my old Mentor. Gyatso. He..."

Katara found herself, again, wrapping an arm around the young Avatar's shoulder in support. "I'm sorry, Aang."

"It was my fault," Aang replied, taking a deep breath. "So, I need to make it right; and in order to do that, I need to master the four elements and I can't do this alone."

"Look, we were pretty much ready to sail across the world to help you out," Sokka replied with a shrug. "So don't worry, we're here. First stop is the North Pole, right?"

"Right." Aang nodded. "I need to learn Water, then Earth, then Fire."

"So you've pretty much already mastered air, then?" Sokka asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Got my tattoos a few months before I wound up in that Iceberg," Aang replied with a bright grin.

"Oh so that's what those mean," Katara said with a nod. "I was wondering...but Aang? What do you mean when you say it's your fault?"

Aang took a deep breath. "I don't really want to talk about it. Lets just say that I never wanted to be the Avatar and leave it at that, okay?"

Katara nodded. "Okay."

It was then that Sokka's stomach grumbled. "Aw, man? Do you have any food on this Bison?"

"Barely. Check that bag," Aang replied, pointing at one of the saddle bags. "It should be enough until we get to Whaletail island where we could gather some more supplies."

"Do they have meat there?" Sokka asked quickly.

"Uh," Aang began, remembering that the siblings were indeed not vegetarians like he was. "Yes, there should be some edible creatures there."

"Yes!"

* * *

_Author's Notes: Well, that was over kind of quickly. Personally, I don't want to go over every single possible thing that could happen in this fic since I don't want it to take too long, so I hope you guys can forgive me if we skip past a few things or get them over with quickly._

_ In this chapter, I actually wanted Sokka and Katara to get captured by a passing Fire Nation patrol boat but that idea died pretty quick when I figured out that I couldn't get it to play out the way I wanted it too. So, I decided to shelve the idea, possibly forever. But then I remembered that they were going to run into complications on Kyoshi Island anyway and went with a more condensed version than what I had planned._

_ Shout out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven_ and _Handwran. _You guys are the best. Thank you for your continued support._

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	10. Letters

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

Commander Zhao was irritated.

He was standing on a rig that had been built up out of the ocean for the sole purpose of holding Earth Benders. Of course, this rig was now nearly empty, a jail whose only occupants were the ghosts of those prisoners who had died in their cells.

"Commander!" Zhao turned to face one of his captains, who commanded the battleship he had arrived to the prison. "We were able to retrieve the surviving crew of the Prison."

"And the Warden?" Zhao asked.

"Drowned, sir," the Captain replied. "He didn't know how to swim."

Zhao grumbled in annoyance.

The Warden was appointed to his post for political reasons, obviously. One of the requirements to even be stationed on one of these platforms was that you were a strong swimmer. Sadly, these political reasons were that he was hated and whoever placed him here was hoping he'd die. It gave Zhao an in to deal with the man; he would tell the Commander if something interesting happened and in return he would get him off the deathtrap that was called a prison.

One such interesting thing had occurred and brought Zhao here: the forced occupying a nearby mining village had managed to capture a Water Tribal. Obviously it was a water tribal, from the hue of her skin to the ocean-colored clothes that she wore. He had sent a message to Zhao immediately after the guards saw her conversing with a pair of passengers aboard a Flying Bison. Zhao had told him not to touch her and to await his arrival.

Zhao looked out over the water.

"Get the Prison crew medical attention and ensure that they're given warm meals," Zhao ordered. "Once that is taken care of, I want to know exactly what happened here."

"Yes, sir," the Captain bowed and marched off.

For his part, Zhao continued to march across the deck.

It wasn't hard to guess generally what had happened, but the spirits were in the details. The girl was obviously one of the Avatar's companions and they had broke out the Earth Benders that had been held captive. That he was traveling with a pair of tribals indicated that he was found or released from whatever prison he was held in near the South Pole. From both the spies within Omashu and the report from the Warden of this prison, the Avatar was still a child.

Somehow. That'd be an interesting story to learn.

The fact that he was going north instead of stopping at an Earth Kingdom city for long or making a direct line for the Fire Nation meant that the boy still had to learn the other three elements, if he had even mastered Airbending.

Starting with Water.

Which meant that he was going to the North Pole.

Zhao did not like that at all.

The soon-to-be Admiral had _plans_ for the North Pole. Those plans did not include the Avatar, who could act as such an effective spanner in the works that he might as well call the whole thing off right now. Unless he could capture the boy and his friends.

He felt something clatter against his boot.

It was a Water Tribe betrothal necklace.

Zhao's eyebrow raised at that. As far as those things went, it was exquisitely crafted. Obviously, it had come from the girl. But why would a girl who wore a betrothal necklace be traveling the world with the Avatar instead of remaining at home with the tribe? Perhaps the savages had given her to the Avatar as a welcoming present?

He snorted. It was irrelevant to him what the savages did with themselves. What did matter was stopping the Avatar before he arrived at the North Pole and ruined his plans.

He brought his heel up and crushed the necklace beneath his boot.

* * *

"The crew has shore-leave while I'm gone," Zuko said, giving out last minute orders as he finished packed. He wore a robe with a hood pulled over his head. "Keep them out of trouble, Uncle."

"I will, Zuko," Iroh replied with a slow nod. "You be safe on your journey. Remember. You can only afford a week in the Fire Nation before the ship has to begin it's return trip."

It was the big day. Zuko had been preparing for this day for weeks, studying maps, learning routes, trying to figure out if there was any military presence at all within the small town. He picked out an assumed name, Lee, to travel while there. The pieces were in place, the routes had been calculated and all that was left was to _leave_.

"I know, Uncle," Zuko replied, wringing his hands with nervous energy.

Uncle Iroh grabbed a teapot and poured Zuko a cup. "For your nerves."

Zuko smoothly drank the entire cup in one single swig. "Thank you, Uncle."

"If you miss the return window," Iroh started. "You can find the White Lotus in the nearest city. Travel within the City limits only at night. Join them formally and ask for relocation. Say each code phrase in order."

Zuko recited each phrase slowly and carefully, using them as a mantra to soothe his nervousness.

"Good," Iroh nodded. "Good."

The Prince took a deep breath. He had very, very good reason to be nervous. If he was discovered violating or trying to violate his exile, he would likely be killed. Or at least, they would try to kill him and he'd wind up in open rebellion against his Father.

As opposed to the subtle rebellion of seeing the world and adventuring on his Father's coin.

Zuko shouldered his pack. "Third dock on the Fire Nation Cargo ship?"

"Yes. Ask for Captain Kuzon and tell him that there's a shipment of Lotus Petals," Iroh replied. "Good luck, Prince Zuko."

"Thank you, Uncle."

They embraced, long and hard, before Zuko slipped out and through the secret exit out of the warehouse and into the night.

* * *

Uncle Iroh,

I'm writing this to you from Hira'a. I made it across the blockade without any problems; though I have never felt anything quite as terrifying as the feeling of someone's footsteps across the smugglers compartment I was being hid inside.

And I've got news. Good and bad.

The good is that I found Mother. I found her. She's been living here in her home village the entire time. Married to her old boyfriend, the one she had before she was forced to marry Father. The bad news is, well, that Mother doesn't remember me.

Uncle, you know there's a spirit that gives people faces, memories, identities? She can change them. Mold them. Shape them. Just a snap of her fingers and you're a completely different person. Scary. Naturally, I went and sought it out since _obviously_ mother had gone to see this spirit if she had been exiled as I suspected.

This spirit actually started to give me a new face, all the while huffing like I had forced her to clean a chamber pot. I couldn't have that, I love my face! The look on her face when I told her to _stop_ was priceless though. Turns out, she hates changing peoples identities but that's all people see her for.

When I told her I was looking for Mother, she was very forthcoming with information. Told me who she changed Mother into, who her boyfriend was and explained why Mother didn't recognize me when I first introduced myself to her; this spirit had changed her memories as well.

But now I have a choice to make.

My stepfather Her new husband is on board with returning her memories. Putting her face back is out of the question until after Father is out of power, but her memories. If I put them back, I have mother back. Essentially.

But do I even want too?

Uncle, there is 'not having anything to do with the Fire Nation'. I am the undisputed king of that idea. I understand it. I applaud anyone who makes a jump like that. The Fire Nation nobility are the most self-absorbed grew of feces-chewing moose lions this entire planet has ever seen.

But there's 'blaze the Fire Nation' then there's what Mother did.

She didn't just decide to tell the royal courts to eat coal, she changed her name, face and _identity_ to get away from them. Bluntly, I'm in awe. I almost want to leave her memories the way they are out of respect, both for her choice and her audacity.

Though if we give her her memories back, what does that do to her? Yes, I get mother back, but she still has to live in Hira'a. Perhaps she might want that, but if she even wants to keep speaking to me? I mean, I'd be shattering the illusion she's built, ruining the life that she chose. Even if she doesn't mind, she can't just send me letters whenever she wants. The messenger hawk carrying this letter was trained by the White Lotus to avoid interception. Mother won't have that luxury.

I'd essentially be reminding her that she has two other children that she has no way of talking to. Maybe she wouldn't mind that, maybe she would. I'm just now realizing how little I know about my own Mother.

Uncle, by the time you get this letter, it will be too late for you to offer advice. My window for extraction will be up and I'll be on my way back to the Merchant's Pier, one way or the other. I just wanted you to know that I'm safe and that I made progress, dilemma aside.

I'll see you soon.

~Zuko.

* * *

The Fire Nation palace was the same as it always was. Grand in it's majesty, holy in its dedication to the Flame and most importantly, boring.

Princess Azula looked across the pond from her position in the royal gardens. Those irritating turtle ducks, thankfully, knew enough to stay away from her and disrupt her meditations. They were loud and the gardens were meant to be peaceful. Thus, whenever they came to close, she'd throw a rock or two and hit their mother on the shell.

Accurately tossed with enough force to rattle the adult into taking her ducklings with her and leave the Princess with peace and quiet.

It would be easier if they were smart enough to follow orders, but since even the most forceful royal decree would be ignored by these peaceful, dimwitted animals, you had to use a medium which they understood. Force, thankfully, was understood by everyone.

Her meditations, just like everything else about her, were perfect. Her back a perfect straight line, her breathing smooth and even. The princess had already done her training for the day, trying to increase the speed of her lightning bending and maintain her cool, sapphire colored flames, so there was very little for her to do besides meditate, get a manicure, perhaps get a snack from the kitchens if she were feeling peckish.

She was hoping that one day, Father would finally have enough of her...brothers bumbling about the world trying to capture the Avatar and send her instead. He would be recalled, a disgrace still, but he'd be home and then she'd made quick work of the hunt for this _boy_.

The princess could go out, see the world, fight in the war, perhaps meet someone…

She shook her head.

No. If she was to have a husband, her father would pick the perfect candidate for her. It would be best if she stuck to the variables she knew and what she could control. Such as the hunt for the Avatar.

He was a boy, roughly two years _younger_ than she was. Bald monk, blue tattoos. According to the path she had been able to chart, he sometimes made detours to tourist locations suggesting that discipline was not his strong suit. His age being what it was, that was a given. From the lack of Fire Nation casualties from battles with the young man, he was also quite squeamish.

When you combined all of this with the fact that he had only used Airbending in all but the most desperate circumstances, it was clear that he only mastered Airbending. Which meant that he was on his way to the North Pole and from there would need to learn Earth Bending, then Fire Bending.

From what Azula could tell, it would be easiest to capture him while he was on his way to an Earth Bending Instructor; according to the spies, the Avatar was an old friend of the Earth King Bumi and would journey to him to learn Earth Bending. Lay a trap, spring it and take home the prize.

Ensure Zuko's removal from the line of succession _and_ his safe return home while allowing her to ascend to the throne unopposed. It was a perfect plan.

Except that her Father would have to approve her request and to press him on this would be a poor idea. He would know when it was time for her to leave the palace walls, finally, and make her journey across the sea.

The disturbance of grass broke Azula out of her meditation and caused her head to snap in the direction it came from. Standing on the grass was one of Azula's servants, a clearly nervous girl that couldn't be more than a few years older than the princess herself.

Azula frowned slightly. She _knew_ people had reason to be afraid of her, that's the way it should be, but couldn't they do a better job of hiding it? "What is it?"

"A letter for you, Princess." The servant held out a folded letter, the back colored in crimson and bearing the royal seal. "From the Prince himself."

Azula schooled her expression and stood up. She took the letter and looked over both sides of it dispassionately. "Hm, I see. You may go."

Wordlessly, the servant bowed and left as quickly as she could without looking like she was running for her life.

The Princess regarded the letter with a small sneer. Her brother, bumbling and stupid as he was, had probably realized that he stood no chance of ever catching the Avatar now. The entirety of the Fire Nation war machine was mobilizing to hunt the boy down and assuredly, they'd catch him before Zuko could even lay eyes on him. So, he undoubtedly had turned to her for help. Finally.

She might've helped if he had asked sooner and grovelled sufficiently. Perhaps he was hoping she'd be able to entreat Father to rescind his banishment, but on that front there was very little she could do; she was a Princess, not a Lion-Turtle.

If nothing else, the letter would be an entertaining diversion.

Azula took it to her room and shut the door behind her. She sat at her vanity and took a moment to inspect her reflection. Not a hair out of place, as was expected.

She took a breath and heated the seal, allowing her to peel the letter open with little difficulty.

_Azula,_ it began.

Azula's smirk grew. He wasn't exactly helping his case by forgetting her royal title.

_I'm writing this letter to congratulate you on being next in line to the throne. I'm sure your rule will be long, effective and bring glory to the Fire Nation._

She blinked; that was not what she was expecting out of a letter from her brother.

_You might have been expecting me to ask you for help, or at least to ask Father to end my banishment. But we both know that's not happening. The only way I'm going to be allowed back is by capturing the Avatar and with the entire Nation chasing at his heels, there is no way I'll be able to catch him._

Azula's head turned in place. Perhaps he was being realistic, but she had at least hoped he wouldn't have given up entirely.

_Though, given how unsuited I was to the life of nobility I was, I think that's for the best. To be honest, it might behoove all of us if I simply disappeared. That way Father doesn't have to worry about me causing problems and you don't have to worry about anyone challenging your legitimacy._

"That's...not untrue," Azula muttered, feeling a frown growing on her lips. There was an odd tightness in her chest. Sure, he was bumbling and stupid, but she had wanted him to return home, didn't she?

_But that's not really why I'm writing this letter. I'm writing this because while I have no chance of catching the Avatar, I found Mother. It was a wild ride, but she wanted me to pass a message onto you._

Azula stopped reading, and then read that paragraph again. He had found their mother? Of course he did. There wasn't a day that went by that he wasn't thinking about her. The days where Azula didn't think about her, however, were days that she could call good ones. No matter what her mother thought, she wasn't a failure, even if she didn't understand where she went wrong or why she and Father seemed to hate each other.

_She told me to tell you that she's sorry._

Azula scoffed, but found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the paper in her hands.

_That she's sorry she didn't love you enough. That she's sorry for being a terrible mother to you. For not protecting you from Father and hopes that you can forgive her._

"But...but..." Azula muttered, her eyes wider than dinner plates.

_We talked a lot, about you, about the family, about how things went so wrong. She told me a few things about you, and she helped me realize something._

And what might that be, Zuzu? How terrible she was?

_You are not a monster._

Azula felt her heart stop.

Of course she was. That was the whole reason mother _hated_ her! She was a monster, cruel by nature and vindictive by choice. She used people for fun and lied when it was convenient. That was the one thing Azula and Ursa had ever agreed upon!

_And I'm sorry for ever thinking you were. I never realized how you and Mother never got along. I never realized how much you wanted her to love you. __I never saw__ how you would dislike how close __Mother and I__ were._

_ So, I apologize __for being a __bad__ brother.__ I hope you can forgive me._

The princess was starting to have trouble breathing, trying to open her mouth and force air into her lungs but finding herself only able to gasp.

_This letter is probably the last time I'll be able to speak to you. You have no cause to leave the palace and I have no reason to return. So I wanted to clear the air and leave nothing bad between us._

_ I doubt we'll ever meet again. But if we do, no matter what circumstances that would be, I was wondering._

Azula felt something drip into her eyes. She wiped it away, ruining her perfect eyeliner.

_ Can we start over? Just be brother and sister without all the baggage? __I'd like to try again._

_ ~Zuko_

_ P.S: Do _not_ ask Father to rescind my banishment. _

Azula sniffed and froze as she saw drops of _something_ stain the paper. In a panic, she got the letter out of the way, placing it on her vanity and reached for a handkerchief to blow into.

Tears.

She was crying.

Why was she crying?

It wasn't because of some stupid letter, so transparently written by Zuko and Mother to rip at her heartstrings to try to persuade Father to let them come back. Yes, that's all it was. It was not, at all, an honest apology from two people that hated manipulation because they were incompetent at it and...and…

She buried her hands in her face, trying to get her emotions back under control. She succeeded with deep breathing, bringing herself to a calm meditation.

It may very well be a precisely written letter designed to throw her off. It certainly succeeded if that was the case.

Or it could be the most sincere thing she had read in her life.

Either way, there was only one thing to do.

Call the bluff. If this was a lie, she could lord how they tried to manipulate _her_, _Azula_, emotionally, to get what they wanted. If they weren't lying...then...they were lying. They _had_ to be lying.

But if they weren't?

That thought stopped her from reaching for the brush and paper.

If they were being honest?

Did she want to start over?

She stood up and paced around her room, feeling a nervous energy coursing through her limbs as she looked back toward the letter again and again.

Could she even start over?

Azula sat back down at the vanity and read over the letter again.

And again.

And again.

At the edges where she gripped it tightly, her claw-like nails had pierced through the parchment.

She took a breath.

And another.

Azula grabbed a brush and paper, and started to write her response.

It was terrible, so she shredded it and grabbed another paper.

This one was crumpled up in a ball and thrown over her shoulder.

The next one became ash all over the priceless wood of her vanity.

So she gently took another one.

* * *

Zuko,

What kind of fool

* * *

Zuzu,

I am impressed by your resourcefulness! You've been at sea for two years and found the wrong target

* * *

Zuko,

I would absolutely love it if you

* * *

Zuko,

Your letter was illuminating and...I'm glad Mother is safe, if nothing else.

But I also don't think you're entirely telling the truth. After all, you've been away from home for two years and you don't want me to ask Father to end your banishment?

If you're lying? Well, then you can stay out at sea forever.

But if you're telling the truth?

...

Please capture the Avatar.

Please come home.

I want to start over.

~Azula

* * *

This was _terrible_.

Azula fumed at her letter, bouts of hot steam exiting her nostrils with every exhale.

This wasn't the sort of thing she wrote. Her father would _kill_ her if she caught her writing anything of the sort. She wasn't even truly exaggerating about that.

But this was short! It was neither eloquent nor powerful, as all things from the Princess were supposed to be. It was simple. Plain. _Weakness in writing_.

Azula let out a sad, depressed sigh.

_It was the best that she had._

Try as she might, she couldn't bring herself to destroy it.

Her shoulders slumped as she looked at the most meager words that she had ever put to paper. They were pathetic. Wholly insufficient, far beneath the bare minimum of what was expected of Princess Azula of the Fire Nation.

Even her stupid brother would laugh at this.

She didn't want to send it.

It wasn't what she wanted it to be.

But it was what she had.

So, Azula, Princess of the Fire Nation, folded the letter and stamped it with the royal seal. After marking Zuko as the intended recipient She personally carried it to the palace post office and deposited it there without a word.

* * *

"I need to talk to Roku and I think I found a way to do it," Aang said matter-of-factly.

They were standing at the gate of a village whose forest had been burnt to twigs. They had perhaps spent a little bit more time in Omashu than perhaps was wise, but they needed rest. Sadly, that led to them getting to the forest after it had been burnt, with the spirit Hei Bai blaming the local villagers for his home being destroyed.

"That's great!" Katara said.

"There's a temple on a crescent shaped island and if I go there on the Solstice," Aang began with a frown. "I'll be able to speak with him."

"Speaking with your past life?" Sokka asked, shaking his head. "That's creepy. Good, but creepy."

Katara looked shocked. "The Solstice is tomorrow!"

"Yeah, and there's one more problem," Aang said with a deep frown. "The temple is in the Fire Nation."

* * *

_Author's Notes: I can explain._

_ See, originally I had intended to write out Zuko's trip to find his mother. I did. I really, really did. But there's a problem and that problem is Zuko making this trip by himself, without Aang and more importantly, without Azula. I hadn't read the comic and didn't know enough about the situations specifics to make it interesting, __so I found myself just skimming over everything. Then I had the idea to make this chapter about letters! So here we are._

_ I know perhaps a lot of you were looking forward to reading Zuko finding his mother in detail, but I...just couldn't do it. I couldn't write it without it being interesting and I figured that it would be better if I stuck to what I could write well and knew what was going on. So I apologize for not being writer enough for this and I hope you can forgive me._

_ As for Azula, I always believed that Azula, deep down, cared for both her brother and her mother. But due to being hurt one too many times and having her less than ethical behavior rewarded by Ozai, wound up shutting herself away, thinking that she was a monster. So in my opinion, she needed to hear what she heard (well, read) from Zuko's letter for a long time. Specifically, the words 'you are not a monster'._

_ I hope you guys don't feel like I rushed it and did a poor job. The ramifications of Zuko getting a more objective look at life in the Royal Palace for his sister was one of the goals of this fic, I would hate to have done a disservice to the redemption of Azula...that's not to say she's redeemed. But rather, she's been started on the road. She's got a long way to go, still. Zuko too._

_Shout out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Jiopaba, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Sultan Saltlick, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Aenor Knight, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven_and_Handwran.

_Your continued support makes this possible!_

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	11. Returns

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

Zuko was leaning against the railing, watching the waves of the sea as they gently rocked the ship. They were approaching the blockade, so Zuko would need to be hidden away soon, in the coffin built into one of the halls inside the ship.

But that was far from the Prince's mind.

His mind stayed on the conversation with his Mother. The very fact that his mother had poisoned his Grandfather to protect him had _thrown_ the prince for a loop. She was Mother! Mother was incapable of such harsh acts as murder.

Zuko shook his head.

Azula probably got his letter right after he left. Before his meeting with mother, Zuko would've said that Azula would've laughed at the letter or simply thrown it away as foolishness. But now?

He wasn't sure.

If he were being realistic, she probably did both of those things still, simply because that's how she responded to sentimentality. But there was a hope that maybe, just maybe, he got through to her; He _did _want to try getting to know his sister without the competition for the throne getting in the way.

That wasn't really what was bothering him.

But he didn't know what it was, though.

Zuko stopped as he heard a rumble above him. He looked straight up and saw, following the same path that the ship had tread but in the opposite direction, was the underside of a giant flying beaver.

No.

Not a beaver.

_A Flying Bison_.

Zuko blinked at the sight of the Avatar's mount.

He tried to fight it.

Zuko really tried.

He took deep breaths. Tried to force his lips to remain in that impassive expression he had perfected over the past year.

But he failed.

Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation, started to laugh. It was a hard, braying sound that seemed to echo across the waves, robbing him of his treasured breath, forcing him to clutch at his stomach and bend over to remain on his feet.

He had searched for a year and found nothing. After giving up, the Avatar was just flying over his head.

It was like the Universe was taunting him.

Zuko managed to contain himself after ten minutes of breathless laughter and looked to the side, seeing ships of the blockade having been diverted to chase after the Avatar, so he went inside to find his designated hiding place.

* * *

Aang found himself looking downward and saw a small, Fire Nation cargo ship.

He felt like there was something really, really important down on that ship.

But he shook his head and pressed onward; speaking to Roku was much more important.

* * *

The sanctuary of the Fire Temple was exquisitely decorated.

Crimson carpets, which ironically felt like stepping on water, covered the floor and hung from the walls in magnificent tapestries. Directly ahead of him was the statue of Avatar Roku and Winter Solstice was nearly upon them.

A beam of sunlight was crossing the threshold gradually reaching for the forehead of Avatar Roku. When it finally did so, Aang would be taken to the Spirit world.

Any second now.

_Hurry up!_ Aang demanded with a hard clack of his staff on the uncarpeted ground. His friends were counting on him!

That was the worst part.

The fire sages had turned on Aang, save one. But as Aang had dove into the Sanctum, Sokka and Katara had gotten captured. He didn't know if they were being taken away and if he'd have to go save them the second he was done or if they were being kept right outside the door as hostages.

"Come on," Aang begged the stream of light. "Just a little further..."

* * *

Zhao was starting to feel a little better.

It had not taken him long at all to track the Bison down, and he was able to follow it past the Blockade and from there, guess his destination as the Fire Temple. He was right, as usual. The Avatar would naturally be drawn to places of spiritual enlightenment on the Solstice and given that his past life was Fire Nation, it stood to reason.

But these series of deductions were robbed of their earlier satisfaction when they had gotten duped into allowing the Avatar into the Sanctuary. At least Zhao had his friends to ensure that the Avatar stayed in the Temple to try to free them.

Actually, Zhao had a short order of business to take care of.

He walked toward the tribals, clearly siblings. One girl, one boy. They took notice of his approach and adopted brave, defiant expressions on their faces.

"What do you want?" The Boy snapped out.

"I'd show a little more respect if I were you," Zhao coldly chided with a raised eyebrow. "I could have the sages kill you right now if you prove to be more trouble than you're worth."

"If you do, you'll have to deal with an angry avatar," The boy rebutted.

"I'm sure we'd have to deal with an angry avatar anyway if we want to catch him," Zhao pointed out airily. "Perhaps we should just skip to that part and get it over with, hm?"

The boy's bravado evaporated. "Whoa, whoa, hold on there. Can we talk about this?"

"Sokka, shut up," The girl hissed with more than a little fear in her eyes.

"Can we talk about this?" Zhao mused openly. "It might be best if we started with introductions. I'm Commander Zhao. And you?"

"Sokka of the Water Tribe," He said, his bravery returning, if only briefly.

"Of the _Southern_ Water Tribe," Zhao corrected with a small frown.

"Y-yeah," Sokka flinched slightly at the correction. Interesting!

"And I'm Katara," The girl replied, narrowing her eyes in a glare at the Commander. "Now what do you want?"

"I really just want to know how the Avatar was found," Zhao said with a dismissive wave. "Was it you who found him?"

"We're not telling you anything," Katara snapped.

"Is that so?" Zhao asked. He shrugged and turned to the Lieutenant who had taken a position at his flank. "Kill them."

Both of the tribal savages froze, and looked at the Lieutenant with wide eyes as Zhao turned away. Any second now…

The sages gasped in alarm and the Lieutenant stopped at the sound. Zhao's head whipped toward the door of the Sanctuary opened and out stepped...an elderly man in Fire Nation robes.

Avatar Roku.

Commander Zhao felt his blood run cold with dread as he joined the defense.

* * *

"That was close!" Sokka shouted, tightly gripping Appa's saddle as the flying bison ascended in nearly a straight line, away from the fire temple and firebenders trying to burn him alive. "That Zhao guy tried to have us killed!"

When Appa breached the clouds, he leveled out, allowing his passengers to relax their death grips on the saddle.

"I'm sorry guys," Aang replied with a frown. "I didn't mean for that to happen."

"It's okay, Aang," Katara reassured him with a grateful smile. "You saved us before anything could happen. We're not hurt."

"Good," Aang said with an uneasy smile. "That's good. I'm glad you're not hurt."

After a moment, Aang turned to to side, away from them in a gesture Sokka immediately recognized as a signal to give him space. Katara, of course, got the opposite impression and moved in to give Aang a hug from the back.

He moved in to try to pull her away, but Aang wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

None of them spoke another word for the rest of the flight.

* * *

"Uncle?" Zuko whispered as he crawled into the base through the secret entrance. "Uncle, are you here?"

The entrance led directly into Zuko's office and while the table and map were lit by candlelight, it was obvious that Zuko was alone.

He let out a breath. His pack seemed to slip from his shoulders of its own accord, bearing a letter from his Mother to Uncle sitting on the top. With a sharp inhale, the candle's got brighter, allowing him to see where he could hang his cloak without tripping over it later.

"Zuko?"

The door to the office opened and Iroh stepped inside, holding a candle in one hand.

"Uncle," Zuko said in a tired voice, though still smiling as they moved to embrace.

"I am glad to see you return safely," Iroh said with a happy smile of his own. In his other hand, he had held the letter he had received. "What was your choice?"

Zuko's eyes took on a strange glimmer. "I have my mother back."

"I'm so happy for you," Iroh replied, his smile getting wider. "How was she?"

"She's fine," Zuko answered. "She and I talked about everything. About Father...you should've seen how mad she was after we brought her memories back and she saw the scar."

"I imagine her rage would send dragons into hiding," Iroh said with amusement.

"And a few other things, too," Zuko shook his head with a soft chuckle. "It was _amazing_."

* * *

"_What did that animal do to your face?_"

* * *

"Sozin's Comet?" Sokka repeated with a frown. "I guess it makes sense."

Appa had landed back in the Earth Kingdom and the trio had set camp. The fire was roaring, vegetables and meat stew were cooking in separate pots, so the smell of food was thick in the air and making their mouths water.

"That's what they used too," Aang began before finding himself swallowing a mouthful of air. "Too...you know."

"Yeah, I gotcha," Sokka nodded quickly. "So we have until the comet arrives to get to the North Pole and find you a Waterbending master, then two more masters for Earth and Fire so you can master them too and..."

"Sokka," Katara cut him off with a glare.

"What?" Sokka asked with a glare of his own. "I'm just listing off everything we need to get done in six months."

"But we can worry about that later!" Katara barked. "We _just_ got done escaping from the Fire Nation, can't we have a bit of a break?"

"Guys!" Aang shouted, cutting them both off. "We can't waste time and energy fighting among ourselves while the fate of the entire planet is resting on our shoulders!"

Both of them felt the rush of air through their clothes that snapped them back to their senses.

"Right." Sokka quickly nodded. "Sorry. I was just...uh..."

"Let's eat," Katara quickly changed the subject, moving to take their meals off of the fire. "It sure smells good, doesn't it?"

Aang sighed and hung his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay," Katara replied. "We're all just a little tense right now. What we need is to just relax, eat dinner and then get some sleep."

"We can talk about stuff tomorrow," Sokka replied. "Katara's right, we're in no shape to stress about this right now."

"Thank you, Sokka," Katara beamed at the surprising compliment.

"Yeah, well, I mean," Sokka began, forcing Katara to wonder how her brother was going to ruin her mood. "You are a woman, so you're better at this emotion and sensitivity stuff."

Katara's eyebrow twitched. "Just like how you're better at being boneheaded and stuffing your foot in your mouth."

"See, exactly!" Sokka nodded in agreement. He turned to Aang. "See, Katara gets it. I mean, she's got to put 'being tough' and 'verbally witty' as negatively as possible because normally when you're honest about this sort of thing, women just want to hit you."

"_This woman's about too_."

"_Guys_..."

* * *

Iroh,

If you're reading this, then Zuko got back to the Pier safely and thank the spirits for that.

I hope you're doing well and that the past few years have treated you well. I haven't seen you since you left to siege Ba Sing Se and I haven't heard from you since...well. I think you remember. I am very sorry for your loss.

After seeing what that beast did to his face, I can only be grateful that you have taken my son under your wing. He has grown into a strong and happy young man, one blooming even in the face of incredible adversity even thriving in his unspeakable exile.

But in spite of all the good things that I have said, Iroh, I am worried for him.

Zuko, for all his grace and even cheer, has become something almost unrecognizable. Perhaps it is the beasts fault, but my son used to care for his nation. Care for his people. That care and devotion is gone, replaced by something else.

My son is now flippant. He is now flighty, though that might have been his limited time-frame speaking, but I don't think so.

"They made their bed with dragons. It's not my fault if they get eaten."

Those were his _exact_ words.

Iroh, I know you're as concerned as I am about this. So I ask you to try to steer him back on the right path. This aimless wanderer that he has become is not who he is. It will not bring him lasting happiness or fulfillment. A Fire Nation man needs wood in the ground, not just air and want. You know this.

Before I left, I told Zuko to never forget who he is. But he has changed. He has changed a great deal.

Whether it was because the animal succeeded in burning it out of him or if it was instead snuffed out by something else, Zuko really wouldn't say. Just that being exiled was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

So I ask you, Iroh, to bring Zuko out of this. He needs ground to stand on. Whether that ground is in the Fire Nation nobility or somewhere else entirely, it does not matter. He needs to put roots down somewhere, or on something.

Also, I had something brief to say about my daughter.

My daughter is the animal's favorite for good reason. She is cold and she is dangerous. A firebending prodigy who sought for power and glory above all else.

Part of it was definitely my fault.

In my years away, I had no memory of Zuko or Azula. Having it restored and then comparing my experience with Azula with my second daughter Kiyi, I saw where I went wrong.

Azula wanted me to love her. She wanted me to appreciate and adore her firebending the way the animal did. She wanted me to congratulate her on her achievements. She wanted me to tell her how smart she was. She needed a love that I did not even recognize_ as_ lovebut that the other parent had in spades and used it to wrap her around his depraved finger.

As her mother, I have failed her spectacularly.

Given how she had always acted cold and antagonistic to you, I can imagine that you might have given up on her. But allow me to say that Azula never forgave you for not avenging Lu Ten's death. It is not because they were especially close, but that in her eyes, you had a duty, were too weak to fulfill that duty. She thinks a father needs to act like her own, in order to be a good father. If Zuko were to die, for instance, she would expect Ozai to go on a rampage and see to the deaths of Zuko's killers.

I do not expect this to suddenly get you to love her, but at the very least, I hope this helps you understand her and put her actions into context.

So, Iroh, as a favor. From one parent to another.

Please help my children.

Bring Zuko back to solid ground.

Show Azula what love really is.

Before something terrible happens.

~Ursa

* * *

"Uncle?" Zuko inquired over a steaming cup of jasmine.

Iroh had entered the office with his letter in hand. "Zuko. I'm glad to see your awake."

"I slept really well," Zuko said with a small smile, before looking down at the map with a melancholy expression. "It was good."

"What is wrong?" Iroh asked.

"Nothing," Zuko lied. "Can I ask what the letter said?"

Iroh shook his head. "No. At least, not until you tell me what's wrong."

Zuko sighed. "Alright, I'm just thinking. About...you know."

Iroh sat down and took a cup of tea that Zuko had graciously poured ahead of time. He simply sipped and waited.

"I just," Zuko started, unable to finish his sentence, shaking his head as he looked at a scroll on the wall, the one that had positions and rosters of the fire nation blockade. "I found Mother."

"You did," Iroh replied.

"But it wasn't this epic quest like I thought it was going to be," Zuko shook his head. "It was just 'talk to this person. Then talk to this person. Go here. Talk to the spirit. Find Mother.' And I was done."

"An uneventful journey is usually the best," Iroh pointed out.

"I know," Zuko replied with a frown. "But nothing's changed. Yes, I know where Mother is. Yes, we talked and it was amazing. But...she's still not a part of my life. We're still separated by my own exile and a fleet of warships."

Iroh hummed and nodded.

"And even if I wasn't exiled, I still wouldn't want to live over there," Zuko continued with a disappointed sigh. "I still don't want anything to do with the Fire Nation."

"Really?" Iroh asked in surprise. "Not every single Fire Nation man or woman was at your Agni Kai, Prince Zuko."

"I know!" Zuko snapped, looking like the old Zuko for the first time in over a year. It faded just as quickly. "I know. The people at the head of this war. They made their bed with dragons..."

"You've said that," Iroh interrupted the vicious metaphor with a glare.

"I did. And I meant it. But the people of Hira'a?" Zuko shook his head. "They had no part of it. They're just a small town so far on the fringe it's almost a different nation altogether. But Father makes decisions that directly affect them. If the Fire Nation wins or loses the war, they will be affected."

Iroh slowly started to nod. "You have started to see the vastness of the role of the Fire Lord."

"I have, and it scares me," Zuko replied. "I don't want to be the one directly responsible for their lives being destroyed if I make a bad decision."

"Well, you do not need to ascend the throne," Iroh replied. "With you in exile, Azula is in line and she very much _wants_ that power. As frightening as that thought is, Prince Zuko, it is an option."

Zuko fell silent, and thus, so did Iroh. They sipped at their tea, until Zuko finally broke the silence.

"I sent her a letter."

"You did?"

Zuko nodded. "Just asking, if we ever met again, if we could start over. Without the baggage."

Iroh frowned, the weight of his own letter feeling like a boulder in his hand. "Do you think she'll want too?"

"No." Zuko shook his head. "Honestly, I think she'll laugh at it. But I felt like I had to try."

"Perhaps she might surprise you," Iroh replied.

"Maybe," Zuko said. "But right now, I'm just trying to answer one question."

"Which is?"

"What now?"

* * *

_Author's Note: I wasn't sure I'd get this chapter out this week, but here you go. I hope you all enjoyed it. Not much else to say about it, though._

_ Shout out to our newest Super Patron, _Russel Beatrous, _whose support is helping to make this possible._

_ Shout out also too Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven and _Handwran. _Thank you guys so much!_

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	12. The Waterbending Scroll

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

"Fire Nation, Earth Nation, Water Nation!" A caller was shouting, standing outside a boat. "So long as bargains are your inclination, you're welcome here! Don't be shy, come on by!"

Zuko looked at the ship. In truth, he had recognized it immediately as a pirate ship when he had first set up a base in the merchants pier. It became even more obvious when he had met the Captain and spoke with him for a minute. But if anyone would have Water Bending resources, it would be them and now that they've returned from their...high risk trading trip, he was hoping they'd have something he was actually looking for.

So, the Prince stepped up ramp and entered the shop.

At that second, Zuko froze and so did the other three occupants of the store.

There, standing right in front of him, was the Avatar. A young boy whose bald head and blue arrow tattoos made him stand out like a sore thumb. Also in the store were two water tribals, a boy and a girl of similar age.

The Avatar and his traveling companions.

They were similarly staring at him, in his red, Fire Nation armor and topknot. The tribal boy was reaching for a weapon, the girl for a water skin at her belt. The monk was also slowly backing away into a defensive stance, his staff pointed forward.

Zuko immediately brought his hands up in a peaceful gesture. "Wait, wait, wait, _whoa_. Hold on a second."

This stopped the Avatar from causing a windstorm in the shop and thankfully, the other two from drawing their weapons, whatever they'd be.

"You didn't see me, I didn't see you," Zuko said, pointing two fingers at his eyes and then at them. "Deal?"

The three of them looked at each other and then back at him. The Avatar nodded. "Deal."

Zuko let out a tense breath and made took one look at the right wall, it having been lined with scrolls. He could feel the Water Girl slowly and carefully circle out of his way as he did and they started whispering...but Zuko could hear them quite well.

"Aang, are you sure about this?" The girl asked in desperation. "He's Fire Nation!"

"Let's just slowly back out of here and leave before anyone else sees us," The Avatar replied, their whispers.

Zuko honestly felt relieved. The sooner they left town, the more likely it was they could get out without his men seeing them and he could go back to pretending like they didn't exist. So he began to peacefully peruse the large collection of scrolls and _immediately_ one caught his eye, the symbol of the water tribe scratched into the end. He grabbed it and opened it.

His eyes went wide and he immediately turned to the Captain who was manning the counter. "How much for the Waterbending Scroll?"

Zuko noted with an uneasy feeling that the group of three had stopped moving just before they had exited the ship.

"We have a buyer in the Earth Kingdom already lined up," The Captain responded. "But if you can cough up fifty gold pieces?"

"I'll give you thirty," Zuko immediately said, walking up to the counter and pulling a string-full of coins out of his wallet and laying them on the counter.

"I'm afraid I'm not haggling on this one." The Captain's mouth pressed into a fine line. "It's fifty gold pieces or nothing."

"Oh, you're being serious." Zuko blinked and pulled out another string full...then another. "Here's fifty and an extra five if you don't tell anyone who bought it from you."

"A pleasure doing business with you, your highness," The captain said, taking the coins. "Your gold is always welcome here."

Zuko gave a small bow and tucked the scroll into his armor, walking right past the frozen Avatar and water tribals that were just standing in the door.

* * *

"You're crazy," Sokka told them. "No, no, you're insane."

"Sokka, that was a water bending scroll!" Katara pointed out with a harsh glare. "Like it or not, Aang needs to learn Waterbending and he needs to do it as fast as possible."

"Yeah, and he can do that at the North Pole," Sokka argued back. "You just want this scroll so _you_ can learn Waterbending as fast as possible!"

"She does have to learn it too," Aang reminded him from his lotus position on top of a rock.

"Well yeah, but she can do that at the North Pole too," Sokka rebuffed dismissively. "We already restocked on all our supplies and we know the Fire Nation is all over that town. So we should do the smart thing and run. Besides, we couldn't afford that scroll anyway!"

"We could've stolen it," Katara grumbled, folding her arms and looking down the river they had set up camp besides.

"And have that entire ship of pirates come after us?" Sokka asked, exasperated. "Then the Fire Nation would be guaranteed to find us and we'd have Zhao on our tail again!"

Aang took a deep breath, and let it out. "Sokka, we need to grab that scroll."

"Why?" Sokka asked.

"Because," Aang began. "I have airbending. You have your weapons. Katara has nothing and that puts her at risk."

"Well, Katara's not supposed to be fighting anyway," Sokka argued with a glare. "She's a girl."

"Oh, so that means that I can't-" Katara began.

"Katara, please," Aang cut in sharply with a pleading expression. "Let me finish."

Katara just folded her arms and glared at her brother.

Aang took another meditative breath. "Sokka, it doesn't matter if she's a girl. She's out here. With us. And because she's out here with us, she is going to be fighting and if she doesn't know enough to defend herself, she's a target. I know you don't want that."

Sokka fell quiet for a moment. "Can't we just, I don't know, leave her back at camp?"

"They can just attack the camp," Aang replied with a decidedly unimpressed frown. "Then they've got Katara as a hostage."

Sokka let out a loud, irritated groan. "Fine. We'll get you both the scroll."

"Thank you Sokka!" Katara beamed, rushing forward to give Sokka a hug.

After an awkward moment, Sokka returned it. "You're welcome."

After they embraced and let go, Sokka turned to the both of them. "Now, did either of you see where that Fire Nation guy went after he bought the scroll?"

Both Aang and Katara shook their heads.

"No, he kind of just disappeared after he left the ship," Katara responded.

"The pirate captain called him 'your highness'," Aang pointed out. "Maybe he can help us find him?"

"That's a good place to start," Sokka replied. "But we'll have to be really sneaky now that we know that town is full of fire nation. The best time would be to head over there tomorrow before they get busy."

* * *

"Uncle, you'll never guess what I found," Zuko said with a grin as he stepped into the office. He took the scroll out from his armor and unfurled it before his Uncle.

"Ah, excellent!" Iroh beamed. "You'll be able to start the next part of your education, then."

"Words cannot describe how excited I am," Zuko replied, turning the scroll around and beaming. Sure, it was just a scroll of forms with none of the water bending philosophy that really interested Zuko, but the forms could be enough as a starter. He didn't really start to understand and apply the philosophy of the Air Nomads until he had started actually practicing their forms, so the Prince was hoping the Water would be the same way. "You said you learned how to redirect lightning from watching water benders, right?"

"That's right," Iroh slowly nodded, his hands tucked away in their sleeves. "But what else did you find over there?"

"Why do you ask?" Zuko asked, his smile turning into a frown.

"You look troubled," Iroh answered.

Zuko might've gotten better at disguising his tells. He might've started to care a little less about being honest. But for him, there was no lying to Uncle Iroh. They simply knew each other too well. He looked back towards the office door, then locked it. With a breath, he spoke the truth. "Uncle, I met the Avatar."

"You what?" Iroh looked stunned.

He recounted the brief meeting in the store, where a quick call for a truce had prevented the place from erupting into violence.

"And then I left with the scroll," Zuko finished.

"Prince Zuko," Iroh began, adopting his most serious expression. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"Don't say it, Uncle," Zuko shook his head. "Please do not say what I know you're about to say."

"This is your chance for a new life," Iroh continued.

Zuko closed his eyes, then opened them again.

"I am being serious, Nephew," Iroh said. "You could join him. He needs a firebending instructor and you need a new life, a life away from the Fire Nation."

"Right but I also don't need to have the entire Fire Nation wanting to immolate me for treason," Zuko pointed out. "The whole point of getting a new life is to slip out quietly and disappear. _Not_ put myself out, publicly for all to see, that I am a rebellious prince with no loyalty toward his nation anymore."

"Zuko, you need a purpose in life," Iroh rebutted. "As much as you might think differently, looking for a purpose is not a purpose! A firebender needs a strong root, in bending and in life and you're floating on your back in the middle of the ocean."

"It's been nice," Zuko replied, nodding with a smug grin.

"Your Mother is worried," Iroh stated with a concerned frown. "She's worried that you've stopped caring about your nation, your people, even your own men."

"I mean, she's right," Zuko replied sheepishly. "The only thing left to do is join the white lotus and head off to Ba Sing Se."

"You have the opportunity to help repair the damage done by Firelord Sozin, remove your father from power and restore peace to the world," Iroh stated with all the power and authority that he had as Prince of the Fire Nation. "And your only thought is of how you can most efficiently disappear."

"I mean, you have that power too," Zuko pointed out. "Since you think this is such a good idea and Father already thinks you're a traitor in the making, why don't you join the Avatar? He needs a Firebending instructor and you're the greatest master I know."

"That is not my destiny," Iroh replied.

"Well, it certainly isn't mine," Zuko replied with a shrug. "And if it is, I'll trade you."

* * *

The trip back into town was really, really, tense. For one, the trio were now seeing Fire Nation soldiers everywhere. Or at least it felt like everywhere. They weren't wearing armor, they were in disguise, but Fire Nation royalty was apparently present which meant that the pier would be swarming with soldiers.

As Sokka had pointed out, the pirate had known the prince that had shown up, which meant that he was living here and that the Merchant's Pier was always filled with Fire Nation soldiers. They hadn't seen a Fire Nation ship in port, but it was probably hidden somewhere. The thought that they had Fire Nation eyes on them the entire time made the hairs on the back of their neck stand up as they walked through the street a second time.

Sure, Aang was now wearing a cloak to hide his airbending tattoos, but that wouldn't do much if the Fire Nation already knew they were here.

The ship, thankfully, was exactly where they had left it, with the crier in front telling everyone what great bargains they'd get if they shopped there. They walked in and, watching their backs, were relieved when no one followed them inside.

"Ahoy, Captain!" Aang said with a pirate accent. "Glad to see you're still ashore!"

The captain chuckled. "Well, I'm glad to see my three favorite customers come back! I was a little worried you were spooked forever."

"We wanted to ask about the Fire Nation guy that came through here," Sokka said, directly to the point as usual. "You called him 'your highness'?"

"Oh, yes, the man who left me five gold pieces for no reason at all," The Captain replied, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I'm afraid my memory has completely failed me but maybe you could jog it."

"Hows about a copper piece?" Aang asked.

The Captain laughed, long and hard. "No."

"Hows about _two_ copper pieces?" Aang pressed, his grin getting strained.

"It's not as funny the second time," The Captain's mirth disappeared, replaced by cold steel.

"There's got to be something!" Aang said with a pout.

The Captain glared. "If you're not gonna by something, shove off! You're crowding the boutique."

With a groan of defeat, they left the shop.

* * *

"They're coming for the scroll, aren't they?" Zuko asked, frowning in annoyance at the scroll of forms.

"I would imagine so," Iroh said.

"Well, I'm not ready to part ways with it yet," Zuko replied with a glare. "Uncle, if you wouldn't mind telling Lieutenant Jee that I want patrols sweeping the town? Get the men in armor. Have them make a sweep then report back with what they've found, even if it's nothing. Get them in armor."

"You're trying to capture him, now?" Iroh asked, an eyebrow raising in curiosity.

"No," Zuko shook his head. "There is no way any of my men can catch the Avatar."

"Then what are you planning?" Iroh asked, stroking his beard.

"Just something to get the Avatar out of my hair."

The three dove into an alleyway when they saw them.

Two fire nation soldiers, marching down the street at a brisk pace. They were hefting spears and scanning the roads in front of them.

Sokka turned to Aang and Katara and whispered. "Follow them."

They started to trail the pair as inconspicuously as they could, checking stands, joining conversations for a few brief moments, anything to stay out of the pairs direct sight.

The trio's patience was rewarded when the pair arrived at a warehouse after a half an hour of trailing them, passing a second patrol that was coming out. They hid in an alleyway, crouched in the shadows behind a barrel that had been sealed with ropes.

"The Fire Nation has a base inside the warehouse," Sokka said. "I'll bet you anything that's where they're keeping your scroll."

"Yeah, but how are we going to get in?" Aang asked, briefly peering over the barrel. "That place is crawling with them."

"We can't just walk in the front door," Katara pointed out. "Hey, there he is!"

Sokka and Aang looked over the barrel where Katara was pointed and saw, walking toward the warehouse on the far side of the block, was the Fire Bender they had met earlier. His full hair and topknot was disguised by the cloak and hood he wore, but there was no disguising that old scar. He walked behind the warehouse and disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" Aang asked, jumping on the barrel and taking off to the town rooftops.

"Aang, wait!" Sokka tried to call, quietly, but the monk was gone.

With a groan, Sokka and Katara both ran across the street into the alleyway and took a hard left. When they saw no guards watching the back alleyway, the two ran across the street and found Aang, standing behind the warehouse, scratching his head.

"Aang, what are you doing?" Katara asked. "Those guys could've seen you and then we'd have been in a load of trouble!"

"Sorry Katara," Aang replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "But look! The scar guy disappeared over here somehow."

"He disappeared, huh?" Sokka asked, stroking his chin. He walked forward, examining the back of the warehouse they had found, carefully looking over every inch of the back. "Huh. I think there's a secret entrance here."

"A secret entrance?" Aang asked, raising his eyebrow.

"How do you know?" Katara asked.

"Look," Sokka said, pointing to the wall. "The boards are mismatched here; they cut a hole in the wall."

Aang and Katara leaned in and got a closer look.

"Hey, I see it!" Katara said in surprise.

"Oh, really?" Aang asked with a frown. "I mean, yup! I see it too!"

"Now we just need to figure out how to open it," Sokka said. He looked up and around and saw a nail sticking up out of the board. He reached up and gave it a light tap, feeling it wiggle. "Aha! They disguised the switch as this nail sticking out."

"Okay, so we go in through the secret entrance, sneak around the base, look for the scroll, and get out," Aang said with a nod. "I think we should come back later tonight when they're asleep and that scar guy's not right there."

"Good idea."

* * *

Night came. Under the guidance of starlight, the three of them returned to the warehouse, carefully sneaking through the alleyways to avoid alerting any guards, armored or otherwise. Sokka found the nail once again and pressed it in with his thumb, causing the hidden door to slide up into the wall.

The three waited tensely for it to finish opening and when it was done, a small crawlspace was revealed. With a nod exchanged between the three of them, they crawled inside, entering the base.

Sokka had brought a lantern and once they were all inside, Sokka lit it with a pair of spark rocks.

They had arrived in some sort of war room. In the center was a massive table with a map of the world drawn on it. On the walls were scrolls upon scrolls of information, troop movements and communication. Each of them were drawn directly to a trio of drawings of their faces pinned up on the wall.

"Okay, so this guy is hunting for us," Aang said with a gulp. "I wonder why he didn't try to fight us in the store?"

"Probably didn't want to fight three on one," Sokka replied quietly. "Let's focus on finding the scroll and get out of here. I feel like we're being watched."

* * *

Zuko had hidden in the shadows of a cabinet the second he heard his secret entrance opening. The crew had been ordered to never use the secret entrance and they were all accounted for. So he felt more than a little annoyed when the Avatar and his friends crawled through his secret entrance.

Of course, that meant that they had seen him use said entrance earlier. Sloppy, sloppy.

But he watched them. The water tribe boy was immediately taken in by the map in the center. Given it had fort locations, the layout of the blockade, the location of the Gates of Azulon and a ton of other markings for the Fire Nation's internal defenses, it only made sense. Zuko stifled a chuckle as the boy's eyes widened and he started sputtering as he realized what he had and immediately started making a copy with charcoal and a piece of parchment.

The girl and the Avatar started searching his office.

Zuko knew what they were looking for, but they wouldn't find it; the scroll was clutched in Zuko's hand.

"Where is it?" Katara growled quietly, looking through cabinet and drawer alike.

"This seems like a war room," Sokka said quietly, still marking his parchment up with rapid, nervous energy. "They might not keep the scroll here."

"Then where would they keep it?" Aang asked.

"We'd have to look at the rest of the base to find it," Sokka said. "Just give me a minute."

If they went into the base, it was likely that the rest of the men would find them and then they'd have an actual fight and Zuko would actually have to start chasing them and, from how obviously the two tribals were untrained, it would be pathetically easy for his men to capture them and from there, the Avatar would either run, which Zuko doubted, or would stick and get captured himself and then...Zuko would be on his way back to the Fire Nation.

The thought made Zuko's stomach churn.

So, deliberately stepping so his steel boots clanged against the warehouse floor, he walked into the light. Each of the three froze in their place and slowly turned to look where Zuko was standing.

"Looking for this?" Zuko asked, hefting the scroll up in his fingers. "I made a copy already, so you can have it."

That shook them out of their funk.

"Wait, seriously?" The girl asked with a confused, nonplussed expression. "You're just giving it to us?"

"Yup."

"Just like that?"

"Uh huh."

"Wait, why?" The boy asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Because I want the three of you out of the pier and out of my hair," Zuko replied with a frown. "Right now."

"Why?" Aang asked with a frown, something telling him that he needed to stay in this exact spot right now or things will go bad. "Who are you, really?"

Zuko blinked. "I am Prince Zuko. I'm an exile, tasked with capturing _you_ so that you don't cause the Fire Nation to lose the war. You?"

"I'm Aang," The Avatar introduced himself. "And this is Sokka and Katara."

"Nice to meet you," Zuko said. "Now if you could go? Now? Please?"

"Wait, if you're supposed to be hunting us down," Sokka started, putting the pieces together. "Why do you want us to leave?"

"Do you want me to capture you?" Zuko asked with a frown.

"No, no, no," Aang said, shaking his head. "We'll just take a scroll and leave."

"Thank you," Zuko replied, tossing the scroll to Katara. "Catch."

She caught it and opened it, her face splitting into a massive smile as she looked at the forms written thereon.

"Now if you could all go back the way you came from, that'd be great," Zuko said with a point toward the secret entrance. "Before the rest of the base wakes up and sees me chatting with you."

"Wait a second," Aang said. "You said you were exiled?"

Zuko groaned and barked out his response. "Yes! And you're threatening to put an end to it just by breathing! Go! Away!"

"Why don't you want to go home?" Aang asked.

"Because home is a den of jackal-vipers and being separated from them was the best thing that ever happened to me," Zuko replied flatly.

"And you don't want to help the Fire Nation win the war?" Aang asked.

"No."

Sokka's head turned in place. "Why not?"

"They made their bed with dragons," Zuko sniffed. "Not my fault if they get eaten."

The three looked directly at each other with varying degrees of surprise.

"Look, I know you want us to go," Aang began. "But I can't help but feel there's a really good reason we've met, and I can't leave until I figure out why."

"Sure you can," Zuko pointed out. "Just move your legs, crawl through the exit and you're home free."

"He's got a point," Sokka replied.

"No," Aang shook his head. "Look, you don't want to go back home. But if you're not trying to go back home, then what are you doing?"

"Seeing the world," Zuko answered. "Trying to learn a bit more about bending arts outside of Firebending, you know."

"Really?" Aang asked. "Neat!"

"So that's why you needed the Waterbending scroll," Katara said, enlightenment painting itself across her face. "You actually wanted to learn about Waterbending!"

"Yup, and I've got a copy so you can just take that and go," Zuko said, gesturing for them to be gone with a wave.

"Well, we're going to the North Pole," Aang began.

"No."

"And you said you wanted to see the world..."

"No."

He had a point.

"And you don't want to help the Fire Nation," Aang pressed on in spite of the Prince's flat refusals. "So...why don't you come with us?"

"Aang have you lost your mind?" Sokka hollered in alarm.

Everyone, including Zuko, shushed him. Sure, the office was supposedly soundproof, but it was the dead of night and there were quite a few sailors sleeping here.

"I'm serious!" Sokka said, appropriately quiet.

"And I agree with him," Zuko nodded. "We don't really know each other. For all you know, I'm laying a trap for you right now. Or I could lose my nerve after a few days and turn you all in. Or..."

"But you won't," Aang replied.

"Sure I will," Zuko nodded. "Guarantee it."

"You don't want to go home, remember?" Aang pointed out with a raised eyebrow. "I know the feeling. You want to learn about the other bending styles. I'm the...the Last Airbender."

"I already know about Airbending," Zuko cut in flatly.

"How?" Aang asked with a deep frown.

"We found this scroll in the Southern Air Temple," Zuko replied. "It was big and had everything on it."

"You found the big one?" Aang asked, looking shocked.

"We had to take a pickax to the little compartment it was stuck in, but yeah," Zuko said with a wistful smile. "Greatest treasure I ever found."

"Another monk and I hid that scroll away as a prank," Aang said, his mouth agape. "It survived Sozin's Comet?"

Zuko's smile turned to a frown and he looked at the floor. "Yeah. It did. Sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Aang asked, then his eyes lit up in realization. "Oh. _Oh_. It's okay."

"Did you want it back?" Zuko asked quietly.

"Please?" Aang asked.

"Sure," Zuko shrugged, stepping forward toward the safe beneath the map table he had installed. With a turns turns of the dial, it was open, and the large, ornate scroll with jade handles was lifted out. "It helped me out. A lot. So...thank you, Avatar. For hiding it away for me."

"You're welcome," Aang said, gingerly taking the scroll and beholding it with reverence. Sokka and Katara looked at it with great interest. "But are you sure you don't want to come?"

"Why would you even want me along?" Zuko asked with a frown.

"Well," Aang started, tucking the scroll. "I need someone to teach me firebending and you're the first person in the Fire Nation I've met that actively doesn't want them to win the war."

"After what Sozin did to the Nomads?" Zuko asked. "Yeah, I didn't want anything to do with that."

"And the rest of the Fire Nation does?" Katara asked with a disapproving frown.

"I didn't figure out that the Nomad's didn't have an army until I reread that scroll a couple of times," Zuko explained. "The only thing I had ever been taught was that they had the most powerful army in the entire world."

"Yeah, no." Aang shook his head. "Nope, no army. We love and respect life too much."

"I know that," Zuko said, folding his arms.

"So will you come with us?" Aang asked.

"Don't your friends get a say in this?" Zuko rejoined with a glare.

"Oh, uh..." Aang stopped, having almost forgotten that he was traveling with two others. "Come on, back me up. I really feel like he needs to come with us. I need someone to teach me firebending and he seems perfect for the job!"

"I don't know Aang," Katara started, looking at the Avatar with concern and at Zuko with suspicion. "He really seems like he doesn't want to go."

"Listen to her," Zuko encouraged. "She's smart."

"Can you _stop_ agreeing with me?" Katara asked, looking a little perturbed. "It's freaking me out!"

Zuko just shrugged and said nothing else.

"Besides, it's not like he'd be welcome at the North Pole," Sokka replied. "They might listen to you because you're the Avatar, but I think they'll draw the line at letting a Firebender walk free."

"But he'd be my Firebending Instructor," Aang pointed out. "They'd have to make an exception for that."

"No," Zuko shook his head. "Anyway, this conversation is done, you've got your scrolls, so I'm going to bed. Good night."

Zuko found himself frozen, however, when the Office filled with a white light.

"Now hold on for one moment, young man."

Zuko slowly turned around and found himself face to face with Avatar Roku. Sokka and Katara both had retreated back a couple steps, their hands raised in a defensive position.

"It is the destiny of the Avatar to master each of the four elements in turn," Roku intoned, leaning forward. "And that includes Fire."

"I'm sure he can find someone else to teach him," Zuko replied, folding his arms. "I'm not the only Fire National whose decided the war can burn. Jeong Jeong comes to mind."

"But it is your destiny to be the Avatar's instructor," Roku stated with every ounce of authority being the Avatar brought him. "And as such, you must teach him Fire Bending, so that he can bring balance back to the World."

"Can't you do it?" Zuko asked with ancient avatar with a bored expression.

"It is not my place to do so," Roku replied.

"But you can do it."

"I cannot."

"Why not?"

"It is difficult for me to contact Aang."

"But you're doing it now."

"This is perhaps one of the most important moments in his journey," Roku explained testily. "And you are defying destiny and the spirits that have watched over you from your birth."

"Well, him learning Fire Bending is really important and you can show up whenever you like," Zuko replied. "So saying 'it's hard' isn't going to excuse you from doing your duty and teaching your current life firebending."

"I will not always be here for Avatar Aang to call upon," Roku replied. "To have him rely on me would be to confine the Avatar to places of spiritual energy and in so doing, would prevent him performing his duties throughout the world."

"I wasn't aware my base was a place of spiritual energy," Zuko said with a bored expression on his face.

"This is a special occasion." Roku was getting visibly angry. "Again, you are defying destiny. You are required to teach the Avatar the element of Fire so that he can restore the world to balance."

"No."

But through his petulance, Zuko had to admit he had a point.

Roku blinked. "Prince Zuko, was it not the massacre of the Air Nomad's that opened your eyes to what our beloved nation has become?"

"Yeah, that doesn't mean I want anything to do with it," Zuko replied with a shrug. "If I join forces with the Avatar, I lose my ship, my crew and my Father's coin."

"And you will gain the chance to help make things right," Roku replied.

Zuko tossed that thought around in his head, frowning but unable to say anything. It was at that moment he became very uncomfortably aware of the feeling that Avatar Aang and Avatar Roku were right and he didn't like it one bit.

"I will leave you to make your decision, Prince Zuko," Roku said. "The consequences of which, good or bad, will rest on your head."

He was gone, leaving in his place a dazed Aang.

Zuko glared at them. "Okay, is he done?"

Katara moved to steady hand, her hands on his arms. "I think Roku is gone."

"Good," Zuko nodded then he frowned.

There was a knock at the door.

Zuko frowned. "Hide. Now."

The three scrambled as Zuko moved to open the door.

"Prince Zuko," it was Lieutenant Jee. "Is everything alright? We heard some strange noises coming from your office."

"Yes, Lieutenant," Prince Zuko replied. "Everything is fine. Now. We just got a visit from a hostile spirit, but I handled it. Tell the Men I want extra stock on salt in the morning. I don't expect another visit but we need to be careful."

"Yes, your highness," Lieutenant Jee bowed.

"Dismissed," Zuko said.

The Lieutenant bowed and left, leaving Zuko to close the door.

The trio emerged from their hiding places.

"Why do you want salt?" Sokka asked.

"Makes barriers against hostile spirits," Zuko replied with a shrug. "Makes it easier to deal with them."

"Really?" Sokka blinked. "Good to know."

"So are you coming with us?" Aang asked, leaning on his staff a little bit too much.

Zuko groaned. "Just tell me one thing."

"Sure," Aang said.

Zuko pointed to a map pinned up on the wall with a line going from the south pole and stretching up in a zing-zagging pattern. "How, exactly, are do you decide where to stop or not?"

Aang blinked owlishly at the map, then got a wide smile. "Well, that is where we like to ride the giant hog monkeys. On Kyoshi Island, that's where we'd have ridden the giant elephant koi and-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Zuko stopped him. "You mean to tell me you've been taking all those detours for fun?"

"Yeah." Aang nodded. "Why else would we?"

Zuko blinked. "To throw off pursuit?"

"Oh," Aang got a thoughtful look on his face. "I guess it does that too, huh?"

That settled it.

Zuko didn't breathe for a second, then he threw his hands up in the air. "Alright, fine. I guess I'm in. If you'll have me."

Aang looked at Katara with the best puppy-dog eyes he could muster.

"Well," Katara started to buckle. "He _did_ get an endorsement from Roku. So...sure. I guess."

"Sure. Fine," Sokka leaned forward, pointing at him with his boomerang. "But I've got my eye on you."

"Well, I guess I should pack my bags," Zuko took a breath, stretching. "And grab some blasting jelly."

"Why do you need blasting jelly?" Aang asked.

"Because if I'm going with you," Zuko started, making for the door. "The rest of the Fire Nation is going to think I'm dead."

* * *

Uncle Iroh,

This letter is going to come as a shock.

But I did what you suggested.

I joined the Avatar.

They snuck into the base through my secret entrance, looking for the Waterbending Scroll. We talked for a while. A long while. Aang felt like I was supposed to be his Fire Bending instructor and Avatar Roku, who felt the exact same way.

You probably found this letter after the explosion. While it looks like I'm dead, I'm not. This is a golden opportunity for me, just like you said. To see the world without the crew holding me down and more importantly, to make things right. So I rigged a few capsules of blasting jelly and timed our departure so it looked like we got attacked by the Avatar.

The Avatar is responsible for me leaving, so it's not entirely a lie.

I only ask that you let everyone think I'm dead. Don't tell anyone that I turned traitor. Don't let anyone know. Because, as much as I don't want anything to do with them, I do care about them. Most of them. Everyone except Father.

You could probably tell Mother, though.

I found a purpose, even if I've got doubts about the whole thing. If this is the right thing to do, I'm sure it'll work out. If not, I can find something else.

Lastly, I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for always believing in me. For teaching me and striving to help me become better. For the games of Pai Sho and teaching how to prepare tea. Thank you for being the Father that Ozai never was.

~Prince Zuko

* * *

_Author's Notes: I hate this chapter. I hate everything about it. Do you guys have any idea how many of my plans this sets on fire? This chapter is dancing on the funeral pyre of my plans and it's ticking me off!_

_ Well, okay, all isn't technically lost. To be honest, I had planned on Zuko being presumed dead anyway but I didn't plan on him joining the Avatar until _The Crossroads of Destiny_. Why did I have to listen to the characters? They just disobey me! Curse you, characters! Curse you!_

_ Shout out goes out too_


	13. Extinguished

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

Zhao was furious at his poor timing.

Looking up in the sky, the commander saw the avatar's bison flying off into the night sky, passing into the clouds and out of sight. Before him was a warehouse that, until about ten minutes ago, looked completely abandoned. But a section of it had been completely blown out, the room inside having been reduced to dust.

Fire nation soldiers rushed into the office from inside the warehouse, shocked by the destruction.

"Commander Zhao, sir!" Lieutenant Jee gave a sharp salute upon seeing the new arrival. "What happened?"

"It appears you were attacked by the Avatar," Zhao replied, giving the floor a thorough examination, looking for clues. "Where's Prince Zuko?"

"He was in this room," The Lieutenant ordered, going pale and immediately looking around.

"A precision strike, then," Commander Zhao replied, scanning the floor for clues. A hint of red beneath the rubble caught his eye, and he knelt down to carefully pick it up.

It was a fire nation breastplate. Or rather, the back of one was the front had been blasted to pieces. Inside was a crimson substance that looked suspiciously like blood.

"The Prince," Jee said, staring at the plate.

Zhao put a finger on the liquid and brought it to eye-level. No, it was not blood. It was juice from Dragonlily Berries, an Earth Kingdom fruit that grew in this part of the world. It looked very close to blood, but it was stickier than it should've been.

He sniffed the juice and caught a whiff of the berry's strong odor that was otherwise completely covered by the smoke and dust of the explosion.

"What happened here?" Zhao looked up to see Iroh staring at the wreckage.

"You were attacked by the Avatar," Zhao responded.

"They killed the Prince," Jee said, his face slowly changing from shock to rage.

"Lieutenant, that's patently false," Zhao cut in with a harsh frown. "This may be the Prince's armor, but he wasn't wearing it at the time of the blast."

"How do you figure, Commander?" Iroh asked sharply, his eyes narrowing.

"This isn't blood," Zhao replied turning his fingers over to show the juice that had stained his finger pads. "This is Dragonlily Juice."

"Then the Avatar faked the Prince's death," Lieutenant Jee started to blink.

"That's correct," Zhao replied. "We can only assume that the Avatar and his companions kidnapped the Prince."

"Why would they do that?" Jee asked. "Why wouldn't they just kill him?"

"The Avatar's an Air Nomad," Zhao responded flatly. "Their respect for life defied good sense. I imagine that the Prince's abduction was a compromise to ensure his removal while not going against the Avatar's own moral code."

General Iroh looked surprised. Then masked it behind an expression of indifference. As was expected of a master of Iroh's caliber. "We must save Prince Zuko at all costs."

"I agree." Zhao gave a slow nod. "If the Avatar has the Prince, then the Avatar has nearly all military information for troop and ship movements in the entire eastern hemisphere. He could cripple all operations in the Earth Kingdom in as little as a week."

"Do you think the Avatar would torture the Prince, sir?" Jee asked.

"No," Zhao shook his head. "But the tribals traveling with him are a different story."

Iroh's thoughtful frown was well hidden, but Zhao saw it all the same. "Lieutenant, prepare the ship. We must pull out of port immediately. Commander, I must apologize for cutting your visit short."

"No, no. I understand," Zhao replied. "If it means anything, I would like to volunteer my ships to assist in the hunt for the Avatar."

"That will be unnecessary," Iroh pointed out. "We have the fastest ship in the fleet and an entire detachment of ships would only slow us down. Besides, we both know that you are planning an expansive military operation in the North Pole that is only awaiting approval from the Fire Lord. We cannot afford to have you distracted. Return to your duties and leave Prince Zuko's rescue to us."

Zhao didn't like it. Yes, the ship Iroh possessed was faster than anything else in the Navy. But that didn't mean that other ships couldn't be used to block off the Avatar's route.

Something was _off_.

"You have your orders, Commander," Iroh spoke. "Carry them out."

"Yes, General."

* * *

Iroh let out a deep breath as he returned to his room to pack.

The blast had woken him up from his deep slumber and interrupted his pleasant dream of Pai Sho, Tea and a peaceful afternoon in the gardens.

He had to assess the situation and figure out where the blast came from in the dark halls of the base as the crew were scrambling to light lanterns. Of course he arrived and saw Zhao inspecting the wreckage.

The general had known he was coming, he received the messenger hawk that morning. But then questions piled up, which could all be summarized as 'what happened'?

Still, the General had a duty to perform which meant that those questions would be answered in their own due time.

In his haste to pack, however, the General had seen something that was not there before; a letter, written in crimson-backed paper and tied in fine twine. He unwrapped the letter and read it.

It was then, even as the smile opened on his face, Iroh slapped his forehead in a groan.

* * *

"So," Katara started, not entirely sure where to start.

The group had landed in a clearing in the forest just beside a small river. Appa was resting in the sand on the shore while Sokka was setting up the Fire Pit. Aang was meditating on a rock which left Katara and Zuko to set up the tents.

For his part, Zuko was silent.

"Have you," Katara continued, looking for something to say. "Slept in a tent before?"

"A couple times."

"Oh. Like when?" Katara asked.

"When we were looking through the Air Temples," Zuko responded as he finished putting his tent up. "Especially the Western one. That one took days."

"Why did it take days?" Aang asked curiously.

"We were cremating the Fire Nation soldiers that died there," Zuko replied.

"Oh," Aang said with an uncomfortable expression. "What about the monks?"

"You wrap the deceased in silk and send them on in a specially prepared glider, right?" Zuko asked with a frown, handing Katara a rolled up tarp.

"That's right," Aang nodded. "Did you do that?"

"The gliders we found were rotten through," Zuko replied. "We didn't have the materials or knowledge to build new ones, so we left the monks in silk until someone could come back to finish the job."

"Well," Aang slowly shrugged. "It's better than nothing."

"You didn't just pile them up, did you?" Sokka asked with a frown.

"No. They were evenly and respectfully spaced out on the cliff-side," Zuko answered. "That's the truth."

"Thank you," Aang said. "So how did you get sent out to capture me, anyway?"

Zuko turned to the last tent that needed to be set up; his own. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Okay," Aang replied.

"Does it have anything to do with your scar?" Sokka asked.

"Sokka!" Katara snapped angrily.

"What? I'm just asking," Sokka defended with a sharp glare.

"Yes, but as I said, I don't want to talk about it," Zuko answered, biting back the far harsher reply he almost belted out with. "Besides, it's just a scar."

Sokka shrugged. "Fair enough."

"So, can we start Firebending training tomorrow?" Aang asked excitedly, a big grin growing on his face. "I want to learn how to throw fireballs out of my hands!"

"Sure, we can start tomorrow," Zuko got a small smirk on his face. "But your firebending training is going to be entirely breathing exercises. You aren't bending fire until I feel like you won't accidentally burn a forest down or something."

"Hey, don't worry, I'll be careful!" Aang nodded eagerly. "Airbender's honor!"

Zuko blinked, then turned to Sokka. "Be honest with me. Will he be careful?"

"No."

"I didn't think so," Zuko replied with a nod.

"But Avatar Roku said it was your destiny to teach me Firebending," Aang pointed out.

"Well, I'm sure that Roku understands why it's important that you learn them in the right order," Zuko replied without so much as a glance at his pupil as he put his tent up. "Don't want the Avatar to burn the world down because he got power mad without Water to cool him off, do we?"

Aang groaned in irritation. "But if I don't learn all the elements before the comet comes, the Fire Nation will win the war!"

"Wait...huh. I guess that's coming up, isn't it?" Zuko asked with a shrug. "You know, I forgot about that. But I wouldn't worry about it. If you master the basics, the more advanced stuff kind of learns itself."

"Which is what the breathing exercises are?" Katara asked curiously.

"Exactly," Zuko nodded.

"But the basics have to have some Firebending forms," Aang said desperately, trying to cling to the hope of throwing fire even as it was evaporating out of his hands. "Right?"

"Right, but those basics are designed to teach how to breathe properly," Zuko replied with a nod. "You don't need to actually bend fire to learn that. Besides, I can't exactly show you how it's done properly right now, anyway."

"What do you mean?" Aang immediately said.

Zuko took a breath and ran through a quick series of movements. Each time it looked like Fire should have come out, only the barest of sparks emerged instead. After he finished, he centered his chi. "My bending's out of juice."

"Why is it out of juice?" Katara yelped in clear concern.

"Well," Zuko started, taking a seat. "One of the key components of Firebending is drive. Strong emotion, passion, things that are all necessary to light your inner fire and I'm out."

"So you're saying you don't feel emotion?" Sokka asked with a frown.

"It's kind of hard to do," Zuko replied with a nod.

"That isn't right," Aang said with a frown. "Firebender's are some of the most passionate people I know. For you to not have that, something had to have happened. Like...like..."

The Avatar's eyes went wide. "One of the keys of Airbending is detachment."

"Yup," Zuko replied with a pointed finger.

"Oh," Katara's eyes also went wide. "Zuko, you said that scroll helped you out. But I think all that airbending knowledge...messed you up."

"My uncle certainly seemed to think so," Zuko said softly, taking a seat in front of his tent. "But personally I think it was a good trade. I mean, I could still be angry, mad at the world and chasing after you with an endless zeal, hounding you from the north pole to the south pole...but I also wouldn't be as good at Firebending so I think it would've evened out."

"You call that good at Firebending," Sokka replied with a lot of doubt.

"No, that's the most pathetic firebending I've ever seen," Zuko contradicted. "But before I lost my drive, I was pretty good."

"So, we need to find a way to restore your drive," Aang said. "Do you know how to do that?"

"Well, personally, I was kind of hoping to learn a bit more about water bending," Zuko answered.

"I don't know, maybe you should stay away from other bending styles until we've got this figured out," Katara said with a frown. Noting Zuko's unimpressed expression, she quickly continued, "But I would be happy to learn with you once we've got this figured out. Promise!"

"Actually, Katara, I think he's got a point," Sokka said. "He's mastered Fire and integrated Air pretty heavily. What if by learning the other styles, he rounds himself out? You know?"

"He'd be following the Avatar cycle to bring balance to himself," Aang replied with wide eyes. "That's what you're hoping will happen, isn't it?"

"Honestly, I just want to learn everything the world has to show me," Zuko replied with a small smile. "Given how the four nations are built on their bending styles, that seemed like the obvious place to start."

"Well, we have the Waterbending scroll," Katara said, holding the scroll aloft. "Aang and I were going to start practicing what's on it later, maybe you could join us? You know, get a head start before we get to the North Pole?"

"I don't think it'll do me a lot of good," Zuko replied. "Since I can't bend Water, the only thing practicing the forms would do for me is help me understand the philosophy of Waterbending, but I don't think either of you really know what that is, do you?"

"...not exactly," Aang admitted. "But the scroll is better than nothing."

"Well, I did learn a little bit from Gran-gran," Katara interjected. "Water is the element of change. We bend by joining with the current and redirecting it."

Zuko blinked and gave her a confused stare. "I'm sure you put your own power in their somewhere, otherwise the water would just ignore you."

"I mean, yeah," Katara said with a nod. "You can't change a current without building a dam, can you?"

"Wouldn't make any sense otherwise," Zuko replied.

* * *

"Okay, so this one looks easy," Katara said, looking over the scroll. "The Water Whip."

"This'll be fun," Aang said with a smile. He looked over to where Zuko was practicing with a pair of Dao swords. "Zuko, are you going to join us?"

"I'll wait until you're done," Zuko replied, going through a form with his swords.

In truth, he wanted to get started right away, but that didn't seem like it'd be worth the trouble of dealing with the pair of excited water-benders. Besides, since they could feel the element, they'd probably have a clearer picture of how Waterbending works and could help him better understand and apply it to his own bending.

Zuko was content to simply practice with his broadswords. With his bending out of commission, he needed a way to contribute to the group's defense if it came to that. So while the swords didn't need much dusting off, given how much havoc they had raised in the hands of the Blue Spirit, Zuko still felt the need to practice.

The Prince was keenly aware that Sokka was watching him practice with barely concealed envy. Eventually, the tribal spoke. "So, you seem pretty good with those. Where did you learn?"

"I studied under Master Piandao in my childhood," Zuko replied, still going through his forms. "The finest sword master in the Fire Nation. Maybe you'll meet him someday."

"Yeah, maybe after the war is over we can touch base and compare notes," Sokka said with a cheeky, perhaps too-wide grin. "I could probably show him a couple water tribe moves."

"Maybe," Zuko replied idly. The Prince immediately recognized Sokka as someone who hadn't been knocked on his butt in a while; the signs were all there. He was favorably comparing himself to a master in spite of his relative inexperience and he did not carry himself as someone who knew how to fight. Perhaps a quick lesson would save his life later. "Want to spar?"

"Huh? Oh, sure!" Sokka said, standing up as Zuko placed his blades on the ground. "But I warn you, I won't go easy on you!"

"I hope not."

After a moment of standing in horse stances, Sokka leaped forward and started the bout, which was over in another two seconds, with Zuko having pinned him to the ground in an armlock.

"Ow! Ow! Okay, okay!" Sokka reached up with his other arm and patted Zuko's leg. "I give!"

Zuko let him go and gave Sokka space to stand back up. He looked up as Katara and Aang rushed over.

"What's going on?" Katara asked.

"We're just sparring," Zuko replied idly.

"You weren't sparring for very long," Katara pointed out with a frown.

"Sokka hasn't been trained all that well," Zuko pointed.

"Hey!" Sokka snapped in annoyance. "So what if I haven't been trained by the best sword guy in the Fire Nation, I still pull my weight!"

Zuko gave a so-so gesture with his hand. "Eh?"

Sokka growled and turned around to go sit on the stump and sharpen his boomerang.

"So, how's the scroll coming?" Zuko asked.

"We're taking a break," Katara replied flatly with a too-wide smile on her face.

"Y-yeah," Aang nodded quickly. "Taking a break. Yup."

"You just started with it," Zuko pointed out, raising his single eyebrow. "Having trouble?"

"Not really," Aang said truthfully. "Just, you know. It's a bit different."

"Uh-huh," Zuko replied. "Well, if you're done with it, I'm going to go have a look."

"Go ahead," Katara replied, still sounding overly cheerful.

Actually, Zuko had a pretty good idea of what the forms looked like without the scroll. But the reminders would help as he actually tried to make sense of them. Sure, the Airbending forms were different from Firebending, but they were different in that they had a clear purpose that Zuko could understand. But the Waterbending forms weren't like that. They were different. Alien.

Zuko had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach that if there was a black abyss for a Firebender to descend into, it would be the Waterbending forms. But it wasn't like he had anything better to do so he looked at the scroll.

_What was the one they said looked easy_? Zuko asked, looking all all four impossible moves in detail. _The Water Whip, that's right._

He looked at it, examined it and then tried to follow it and right away, he felt completely wrong. So he tried it again and frowned, rubbing his chin.

"You're not doing it right."

Zuko took a breath and looked at Aang. "Alright, what am I doing wrong?"

"You look like you're trying to force the water," Aang replied with a shrug. "You just got to shift your weight through the stances and flow through the form."

"Teach me," Zuko said, sitting on his knees.

"Well, I mean, I'm not a master," Aang hurriedly pointed out.

"But you know more than me at this point," Zuko pointed out.

"I guess," Aang replied. "Here, this is how I think it's supposed to go."

Zuko had never actually seen Waterbending before now, when Aang had taken a small stream of water out of the river into a perfect water whip, which he then allowed to flow right back into the river. The Prince had been hoping that, with a proper demonstration in front of him, he'd be able to make better sense of water-bending.

The exact opposite happened. Now he was even _more_ confused. Why did the whip stay in the Avatar's hand even though he wasn't forcing it? Why did the river change the way it flowed just because the Avatar was flowing with it?

From Airbending, Zuko had learned to take the path of least resistance. But there was still resistance. Either you blew through it, per firebending or you went around it, per airbending. But with Waterbending? There was no resistance and that made no sense.

"So you flow from stance to stance, shifting your weight into each one," Aang continued, centering his chi. "If you were a waterbender, the water would start to match flow with you and you'd be able to bend it."

Zuko blinked. "I don't get it."

"What don't you get?" Katara asked. "It seemed kind of clear to me."

"But see, Katara, you were doing the same thing he was doing," Aang replied with a frown.

"I was?" Katara asked with a frown. "How so?"

"Both of you were moving like you were trying to force the water," Aang answered. "You can't do that. Either you flow with the water and change how it goes, or you don't bend."

Katara growled in irritation.

"I-I'm just saying," Aang replied. "I'm not a master, that's just what I think is happening."

"I think this would be a lot easier if there was something I could bend," Zuko said. "But that's hard to do if I can't bend."

"Maybe you can't make your own fire," Aang said with an inquisitive expression. "But maybe you won't have too!"

"How so?" Zuko asked.

"Well, the thing with water is that it's already around," Aang said. "So if you had fire already going..."

"I might be able to bend that instead," Zuko said, nodding and clearly impressed. "I brought some candles to help with meditation, let me go get them..."

The candles were small, arranged in a line in front of the prince. With a pair of spark rocks, Zuko lit the candles and stood up.

"Alright, moment of truth," Sokka said idly, still polishing the azure stone in his club well past the point he could see his face in it.

Zuko brought his hands up to perform the 'Fire Whip', mirroring the Avatar's motions earlier. The flames from the candles sprung up, higher and higher as they started circling the princes hand.

"He's doing it," Katara breathed with wide eyes.

"Yes he is," Aang replied, his own expression growing more and more excited.

Then the long and wispy candle flames extinguished with barely the smallest amount of smoke.

Zuko hummed. "Well, it was worth a shot."

"What happened?" Katara asked.

"Firebending needs three things to work," Zuko began. "Drive, Chi and Breath. As soon as the flames got too long for the candles to maintain, it needed more of all those things to stay alive. But, since my drive is gone..."

"But I don't get it," Katara shook her head. "You weren't firebending, you were waterbending."

"Yeah, with fire," Zuko admonished. "And fire isn't water."

* * *

_Author's Note: I meant to have this chapter out last week, but things came up. Still, I'm glad I was able to get this chapter out today and I hope you all enjoy it! Not much to say other than I'm glad I can have Zhao be more than the Stupid Evil Fire Nation guy we usually see him as. It kind of bugged me because, even though the Fire Nation isn't particularly bright, you can't plan a nearly successful invasion of a foreign nation and also be, well, stupid._

_ Shortsighted and impatient, certainly, but not stupid._

_ Shout out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven, Handwran _and_ Russel Beatrous. _Thank you for your continued support!_

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	14. Jet

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

General Fong could not have been a happier man.

Sitting on the table in front of him was a letter, bearing the seal of the Fire Nation's Royal Family. The hawk that had been carrying this letter was trapped in a cage behind the general, having given him a very surly look as he had walked in the door.

Very intelligent animals, hawks. Fire Nation hawks, especially.

The General sat at the table, and rubbed his hands together. "This has been verified?"

The sergeant on duty nodded. "Yes, sir. That letter bears the royal seal and was on it's way to Prince Zuko."

"He was the one sent on the hunt for the Avatar," General Fong reminded the sergeant. "So whatever is on this letter has to be really, really good."

"As you say, sir," The sergeant replied.

General Fong gestured and a pair of serviceman came forward, carefully undoing the seal for the letter in case they needed to send the letter ahead for whatever reason. With the letter open, the General giddily started reading.

It was not often a hawk bearing communications of this magnitude was captured. In fact, General Fong could say that this was the first time he had ever seen it done. He could not wait to send out messages to the other generals.

What could the letter contain? Was the Prince being recalled to partake in some other military operation? Was he being given directives on where to carry out his search? Perhaps his sister was being sent out to assist in the hunt?

But General Fong found nothing of the sort on this letter. He read it again, and his giddy expression was swiftly changed to pensive reflection. He stroked his beard as he contemplated his next move.

"Sir?" The sergeant asked.

"Close the letter and send it on it's way," General Fong ordered. "There is nothing of military significance on it."

"Yes sir," The Sergeant responded with a bow.

"I want that hawk to be well fed and rested before it continues on it's mission in the morning," General Fong continued.

"Yes sir."

General Fong took a piece of paper out from under the table, grabbing the brush and ink pot and begun composing a letter to the other Earth Kingdom generals.

_Fire Nation Royal Communication intercepted_, The General wrote. _Simply the Prince's sister asking him to complete his mission and return home. Only thing of interest is that Queen Ursa has been located, but we have found nothing to ascertain her location. Message has been sent forward. General Fong._

* * *

"We need to stop by Gaipan to get some more supplies," Sokka said, pointing at the town on the map.

"Sokka, we just restocked on everything in the Pier," Katara protested with a frown.

"Yeah, but then we picked up a new mouth to feed," Sokka replied, pointing his thumb at Zuko. "So we'll need a few extra packs."

"I appreciate that," Zuko replied idly. "But that town is under Fire Nation occupation. So if you want to go in, that's fine, but wear disguises. And I'm not going with you."

"You're not?" Katara asked.

"We do not want him to be recognized," Sokka deadpanned.

"Oh, well, then I guess I shouldn't go either," Aang replied, pointing to the blue arrow on his head. "Zuko could've gotten that scar anywhere, but there's only one person with these kind of tattoos."

"Sounds like a great excuse for more breathing exercises," Zuko said with a small smirk.

"Aw, come on, Sifu Zuko!" Aang whined. "We've been doing breathing exercises for days! Can't I bend fire? Just a little bit? Please?"

"Have you mastered Water and Earth?"

Aang folded his arms with an annoyed and surly expression. "No."

"There's your answer."

The bison flew relatively quickly when it wanted too. Zuko noted that Aang's irritation was causing him to push Appa harder than normal and it seemed too get worse with every single day.

It seemed that the perpetually free nomad did not like being told he couldn't do something.

But as they got closer to Gaipan's location on the map, Zuko immediately felt like something was wrong. Down below on the ground was a river, and a pretty large one at that, but it was only sliding along at an easy pace.

"Wait, did we miss the village?" Sokka asked with a frown, looking at the map. "It says that it's just outside of a lake, so maybe it's down stream."

Zuko looked down at the map. "Yeah, but the lakes on a cliff, so we just need to look for a dam and we'll find it."

Katara made a shocked sound, pointing. "You mean a cliff like that?"

Sokka looked at where she was pointing. "Yeah, just like that, except...there'd be...a dam..."

Slowly, all of Appa's passengers caught sight of the burnt wooden debris along both shores of the river, violently strewn about as if they had been caught in an explosion. They followed the water a little ways down and saw yet another place where wooden debris was strewn about. It looked similar, except all the wood looked like it had been blasted downstream.

"Aang, I think that was Gaipan," Sokka said.

"What?" Katara cried.

"I'll take us down," Aang said. "Maybe we can find survivors."

Zuko thought that was optimistically naive.

On the ground, their look of the situation only got worse. Instead of it just being wooden debris, there were bodies. Two, in particular, and only torsos clad in scarlet armor, as they had been stuck on the rocks that stuck up out of the water.

"The dam broke," Sokka said hollowly.

Katara gasped, her hands on her mouth.

"No!" Aang shouted, falling to his knees.

Zuko frowned and started examining his surroundings. Off in the distance, he saw a figure. "I see someone, over there."

"Maybe he knows what happened," Katara said.

"Maybe he's a survivor!" Aang said, getting on his glider and flying off toward him.

Sokka and Katara ran off after him, while Zuko walked, taking one more glance at the bodies stuck on the rocks, frowning deeply as he made his way there.

Aang brought himself in for a landing to look at the survivor. The survivor's eyes matched his and Aang felt a shiver run up and down his spine like a chill-wind.

He was obviously around Sokka's age, maybe a little older, but it was hard to tell. His right eye was swollen and black, as was his jaw, which was surrounded by dried blood that had leaked out of the sides. One of his arm, which was clearly broken given how red it was, was wrapped around his stomach with a hastily improvised sling. The other arm held a shovel, which he was using to pat down the dirt on a freshly filled grave. His voice was rough and quiet as he forced words through a mouth that would barely open. "Who are you?"

"I'm Aang," Aang replied, pointing to himself. "I'm the Avatar. How can I help?"

The survivor let out a low, guttural growl and went back to his work. "You can't."

"Wow, you are really banged up," Sokka said as he finally caught up. "You should take a rest and tell us what happened here."

"It'd give us a chance to help with those injuries," Katara pointed out.

The survivor groaned. "Alright, fine. I guess I could take a break."

"Great!" Aang said.

"I'm Katara, by the way," Katara introduced herself with a hand on her chest. "This is my brother Sokka and this is..."

"Lee," Zuko said quickly, interrupting her. "And you are?"

"Jet," He finally said, hefting his shovel beneath his shoulder as an improvised crutch as he started limping toward the tree-line on his good leg. "Come on."

* * *

"You know, I heard from my Uncle that Waterbender's can all heal with their bending," Zuko said conversationally.

The five of them, including Jet, were all now sitting around a fire. Jet's camp was, well, quite sparse, with only a bedroll on the ground to sleep on.

"Wait, really?" Katara asked with interest. "I've never heard that."

"It's part of why the Fire Nation hasn't been able to take the North Pole," Zuko confirmed with a nod. "If you can't take the entire squad out, they'll just heal up and then come at you fresh. The Water Tribe always wins attrition."

"That, and all the ice and snow stops them in their tracks," Sokka pointed out. "Firebender's always lose a good snowball fight."

In spite of Zuko's best efforts, that got a chortle out of him. Katara and Aang also laughed, but Jet stayed silent, haunted eyes staring into the fire.

"So, you think I should try too..." Katara started, pointing at Jet.

"If you think you can do it," Zuko said. "I mean, putting a little water on a wound never hurt, did it?"

"Alright, uh..." Katara started. "Jet, can I…?"

Jet was unresponsive.

After a moment of hesitation, Katara put her hands down near her water pouch and, gingerly withdrew a stream of water. With a smooth, even caress of her hands, the stream moved onto Jet's leg, who started and almost fell over, only to be caught by Zuko.

"What are you doing?" Jet demanded.

"We're checking to see if Katara can bend your injuries away," Zuko replied.

Jet groaned. "Fine. Just ask first."

"We did," Sokka pointed out.

Jet growled but said nothing further.

Katara licked her lips and started again, pulling the water out of Jet's pant-leg and applying it, trying to get something, anything to start working. But as she focused on the water, something came to her attention. Through the water, she could feel something like rivers flowing through his leg. It felt like water, but also, not. But the flow in his leg had nearly been stopped, like the channel had been bent. So it was almost instinctual when Katara pushed her own chi through the water to the channel and set it right.

Everyone's eyes went wide as they watched the water glow blue and then...stop.

"How do you feel?" Katara asked.

Jet slowly extended the leg with wonderment. "It feels...better."

"Did you just get that on the first try?" Sokka asked with a shocked expression.

"Yeah," Katara replied with a shocked and almost giddy voice. "I did! I did it! First try!"

"How did you learn how to do that?" Sokka asked, completely nonplussed.

"I guess I," Katara started, sounding a little embarrassed. "Always knew?"

"You always knew?" Sokka repeated. "Where were your magical healing powers when I fell into the greaseberry bramble! Or that time when I got two fishhooks in my thumb?"

"Can you two bicker later?" Zuko asked with a raised eyebrow. "Katara still has a patient."

"Sorry," Katara said, bringing her water back up.

After nearly an hour of work, going over Jet's many injuries, gradually, the young man was restored to perfect health and in Katara's opinion, he had a very handsome face. Did the fire somehow make his face more mysterious, or was that just her?

Jet stretched out his mouth after Katara was done. "Finally, I can talk!"

"So what happened?" Aang asked.

Jet let out a breath. "The dam broke. Washed away the town and took everyone with it, Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom."

He started looking into the fire again. "...greatest tragedy I've ever seen."

"But you still got caught in the river though, right?" Sokka asked with an analytical expression. "That's why you got so banged up."

"Yeah," Jet nodded. "My friends all...left, after the dam broke so now it's just me. Burying the bodies of the Earth Kingdom."

"You lost your friends too?" Katara asked with wide eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"No, they weren't in the town when the dam broke," Jet replied. "They just left."

"Oh."

"They left you like that?" Sokka asked. "Some friends."

"Yeah, I sure know how to pick them," Jet replied with a grumble. "Not that I blame them, in all honesty."

"Why not?" Sokka asked.

"We weren't just friends, we were freedom fighters," Jet replied. "We'd been fighting to get this valley free from the fire nation for a while now. When the Dam broke, their reason to fight, well, died."

"I can see that," Zuko said. "Everything you were striving for goes up in smoke and suddenly you don't want to do anything anymore."

Jet was quiet for a moment. "Yeah. Exactly."

* * *

"Do you need anything?" Katara asked.

"No," Jet shook his head. "It's been nice talking to you, but like your brother said, you got to go."

"Alright, well, maybe we'll see each other again," Katara said. "You know, after-"

"Katara!" Sokka shouted from Appa's back. "Come on!"

"I'll be fine," Jet said with a smile. "You guys get to the north pole, alright?"

"We will!" Katara said, jumping up Appa.

"See you, Jet!" Aang said with a wave. "Appa, yip yip!"

As the bison rose into the air, Jet let out a sigh of relief, allowing himself to fall into his thoughts.

It was fortunate that the Avatar was on such a tight schedule, or he might've started poking into what had happened. He didn't need that headache right now.

Jet knelt down and picked up his shovel, moving to the shore. On the shore was a line of bodies, bodies that had to be dragged from the shore and partially reassembled, but bodies that Jet had wrapped in cloth and tarp from the towns wreckage.

The young man started to dig, the wet earth proving easy to move, cutting an already all day affair down to the entire morning and part of the afternoon.

He set his shovel down and picked up one of the bodies, the small wrap hiding the smashed body of a child that couldn't be any more than seven.

Smellerbee was right; he was a monster.

And this body proved it.

As he held this tiny body in his arms, he knelt beside the grave he had dug with tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

* * *

Commander Zhao was starting to rage.

This river had not been here a week ago. It wasn't on any maps and it certainly hadn't connected to the ocean so his steam-powered dingy could swim up.

He had been sent by his Admiral, the man who Zhao would be replacing thanks to his well earned retirement, to check on the town. There was supposed to be a shipment of supplies arriving to Port Rozu to support the invasion. The port was a days travel, so a delay was looking more and more unlikely. What's more, the Avatar's bison had been spotted in this area which put the men in this region in a very precarious situation.

Zhao's worst suspicions were confirmed when he came to a pair of fire nation suits of armor caught on the rocks.

"Move the ship ashore," Zhao ordered. "And fish those armors out of the water."

"Yes sir."

The craft hit the beach and the small crew disembarked. The crimson suits of armor were just torsos, the soldiers having been dashed to pieces on the rocks. All around them were pieces of wood, thrown and embedded in the sand by some great impact. Zhao's eyes followed the river up and saw a great chasm, two cliff-sides facing each other and on either side, was more wood.

Zhao's frown devolved into a snarl. "Yeoman, come with me. The rest of you, start fishing Fire Nation bodies out of the river and construct a funeral pyre."

"Yes, sir."

Zhao and the Yeoman, a young man with a long, black mustache, walked up the river. As they grew closer, the Commander's eyes scanned every piece of blackened wood that was sticking up out of the sand, every splinter he could see.

"There was a dam here," Zhao pointed out as they came to cavern. He knelt down and picked up a splinter of wood, the front and sides charred from a blast of some kind.

"Do you think this was the Avatar, sir?" The Yeoman asked.

"No. The black, charred marks on the wood tell me that this dam was destroyed by blasting jelly," Zhao responded. "There were civilians in that town and the Avatar is a pacifist."

The Yeoman blinked in surprise, but didn't question it. He had long since gotten used to Zhao saying things that defied what they had learned as children in school...only for the Commander to be correct and for his school teachers to have been ignorant fools.

"But the Water Tribals?" Zhao asked with a deep frown. "I could see them doing this. Setting up explosives on the dam while the Avatar was away and then rigging them to detonate after they left. They have no reason to care for the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation is the enemy. Destroy the outpost of an enemy with very minor collateral damage, it's almost genius really."

"But sir, you hate civilian casualties," The Yeoman pointed out.

"In some situations, yes," Zhao slowly nodded, still looking at the wreckage. "If civilians are dying, that's a workforce going down the drain and makes holding onto the captured territory harder. But if you're not trying to keep anything? Then a scorched earth strategy is perfectly acceptable."

The commander looked down at the mud that stained his boots and stuck to his heel. "Or, in this case, drowned earth."

"Of course, sir," The Yeoman agreed.

"Wasn't it a shipment of blasting jelly that was being routed through Gaipan?" Zhao asked with a frown.

"Yes sir," The Yeoman nodded.

Zhao grunted. "Then we've found where it went."

The Yeoman looked up at the tattered remains of the dam in silence.

"Those tribals are starting to vex me," Zhao seethed, turning on his heel and moving back to the ship.

The Yeoman, naturally followed him. "Sir? How do you know that the Avatar is a pacifist?"

"Because all of the Air Nomad's were pacifists," Zhao replied without breaking stride or even looking at him. "They didn't even have an army."

"How do you know that?" The Yeoman asked before he could stop himself.

"I am a very well-read man, Yeoman."

The Commander was always right.

The sailors had assembled a hasty funeral pyre and had begun fishing whatever shattered and broken bodies wearing red they could out of the water. After two hours of this, they could not wait any longer to return to their post, and Zhao hoped that the spirits of the dead soldiers would understand that they were only able to get half of the platoon.

The bodies were burnt, the smell raking Zhao's nose and singing the hairs within. He found himself absentmindedly grinding his teeth and clenching his fists.

These men would have justice.

Once they were done, they climbed back onto the ship and sailed off. On the shore, Zhao saw a young man come out from the trees, shovel in hand. He was digging a series of graves along the shore, only for him to stop and meet the Commander's eyes.

Even from here, he could see that the eyes staring back at him belonged to a dead man.

"Commander, do you have orders?" One of the men asked. "Do you want us to go ashore and apprehend him?"

No matter the nation, it was important to show the proper due to the dead. Made movements through captured territory easier. Still, he couldn't fault his men's zeal.

"Leave the boy to his work."

* * *

"So, how did you do that?" Zuko asked with interest. "How do you heal?"

They were all sitting around a table in the upper common room of an inn that Zuko was able to simply pay for out of pocket.

"I kind of just did it," Katara replied.

"But what's the process?" Zuko pressed. "What does it feel like?"

The three of them noted that there seemed to be a fire in the Prince's eyes that wasn't normally present. A fire and intensity that had almost seemed dead when they had first met him back in the Pirate's ship.

It was almost like this was the first time any of them had truly seen him alive.

"Well," Katara started. "I put the water on someone and then I get...a connection. I can feel the way their chi is flowing, I think. Like, when I was setting Jet's leg, the chi flow was all wrong, like it was completely dammed up. So I set the flow back to where it was supposed to go."

"You pushed the bone back into place using his own chi?" Zuko asked with a blink.

"Yeah, actually!" Katara nodded with a huge smile. "I gave his chi a better way to flow and his body kind of just fixed itself."

Zuko stopped. "So you forced his chi to flow properly for a second."

"I wouldn't say forced," Katara argued. "More like I...guided it. Using water as the medium."

Zuko fell quiet, cupping his mouth and lips with his fingers as the fire in his eyes disappeared as he retreated into his own mind. _She guided it._

Katara made to reach across the table, but she was gently stopped by Sokka, who simply shook his head. "Let him think."

"Yeah, he's good at that," Aang said with a frown.

"Aang, I know you're frustrated that you haven't really been firebending," Katara began. "But it's just until you've mastered Water and Earth. I really think Zuko has a point about wanting you to do them in order."

"But all this time I could be learning Fire and I could be ready weeks or even months before the comet comes," Aang said. "It takes years to master even one element, what if by the time I've mastered Water and Earth, it's too late and the Comet's already here?"

"It could be worse," Sokka pointed out. "You could be at this point and not have a master at all."

_Guided it. Why does that sound familiar?_

"I know," Aang groaned in frustration. "But...still. I can't save the world if I don't master all the elements, so I feel like he's just stalling."

"It seems like a good idea to wait until you can be trusted to not burn a forest down," Sokka replied.

"I'm not going to burn down a forest," Aang protested with a pout.

Sokka hummed with doubt, folding his arms and leaning away with a small shake of his head.

"Sokka, enough," Katara stated with finality. "Aang, Zuko said he doesn't want to teach you real Fire Bending until you've mastered Water and Earth but I think he just wants to make sure you're disciplined enough to not cause problems, so if you prove you're really disciplined then..."

"Then he'll teach me Firebending!" Aang said with a huge smile. "Thanks, Katara! You're the best!"

_Well, she's right, but Aang's got a long way to go,_ Zuko thought..._anyway, guided. Guided. Guided...guided. Oh, that's bugging me. Where have I heard that before?_

It was then that lightning metaphorically struck.

_When you bend the lighting, you do not control it. You are merely it's humble guide._

Zuko's hands fell to his lap.

_Water and Lighting act similarly. That's why Uncle was able to develop the technique to redirect lighting by watching Waterbenders. So when I'm firebending with Water forms, I need to treat that fire like it's lightning. Only instead of killing myself if I make a mistake, the fire dies._

"I got it!" Zuko threw his hands into the air in celebration.

The three looked at each other, then at him.

"Got what?" Katara asked curiously.

"I'll show you tomorrow," Zuko said, standing up. "I'm going to bed. Also, Aang? Fastest way to prove you've got discipline is by mastering Water and Earth. Good night."

* * *

_Author's Note: I apologize that this is so long in coming._

_ I am not back, but I had some chapters, as some of you already know, on the backlog. Sadly, I burnt out on writing. I haven't been able to so much as write a word until about a week ago. I apologize for keeping you all in the dark regarding this, I just wanted to spend some time recovering the will to write. I could barely go on the websites themselves._

_ I do want to say that I appreciate everyone's well wishes and concerned PM's. Thank you all. I understand that given current events it was a really bad time for me to go dark but...that's how the dice rolled._

_ Updates are going to be sparse once I've gone through the backlog. It will be a while before I can return to my weekly schedule, if that ever happens again. I just needed and still need a break. Thank you all for your patience and I hope you're doing well in these troubled times._

_ Have a cookie._

_ Shout out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven, Handwran _and _Russel Beatrous_. __Thank you all for your continued support!_

_Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	15. The Divide

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

"Your movements are still a little too direct, Zuko," Aang corrected idly from his seat on a rock.

Zuko noted with annoyance that his eyes were closed, but that didn't matter. A bending master could tell when something was off and to someone who had mastered the styles over and over again over the eternities, it probably seemed buffoonish.

However, he felt like he was being singled out for mistakes than Katara, who was also practicing the exact same forms that he was, with just as many mistakes. But still, being singled out meant you were getting the impurities burnt out faster, so the Prince didn't complain.

It was still annoying.

"You've gotten way better since we've started practicing together, though," Katara quickly complimented, smiling wide, still going through the water whip.

Katara, for her part, seemed to really enjoy practicing with Zuko. Just the way he used Water forms to bend their campfire around seemed endlessly fascinating to the girl, likely just as much as watching a waterbender bend with Fire forms would be to him.

"Thank you."

It seemed easier to hold the fire in whatever shapes he could make with his limited understanding, which Zuko attributed to the fact that he was starting to put down roots again. Well, not put down roots, just watering the ones he already had; he already enjoyed Firebending and learning a new style was something he had been wanting to do for months.

His drive was coming back.

Slowly.

Aang seemed a little more annoyed after Katara spoke, but otherwise didn't say anything.

For his part, Zuko thought he understood the dynamics of the group he found himself traveling with. Aang was a pretty carefree individual who tried to avoid direct confrontation at any cost. He had a crush on Katara and as a consequence of avoiding direct confrontation, he had no idea how to act on those feelings. Sokka was very intelligent and had a fairly good handle on how things went, if only limited by his lack of experience. He was able to quickly let go of ideas that proved themselves erroneous, which was more than could be said for some hardened generals. Katara wanted to become a Master Waterbender more than anything else in the world and saw things in black and white. Either you were good, or you were evil. No in-between.

Aang was annoyed at Zuko for not teaching him something fun, which Firebending was supposed to be for him. And it was fun, until you accidentally burned one of your friends. Katara looked at Zuko like a weird gem, a 'Good Firebender' that needed to both be shown to the world and protected lest he fall back into step with his countrymen. Sokka was neutral, though he recognized the value of having a competent sparring partner that knew how to fight without bending on hand.

Zuko, though, still wasn't sure how he fit into the group. He was a Firebender without drive, a traitor in secret, a sifu who was waiting for his student to be ready, a man who didn't know what he wanted out of life. Until those things were fixed, Zuko was merely a passenger on their journey to the North Pole, a passive hanger-on that provided some support in the form of a different perspective and skills, a tourist interested only in seeing new sights.

He was a parasite, in a way, though a benign one.

"So what's our next stop, again?" Sokka asked, speaking up from his breakfast of cooked fish. The way he wolfed those down, Zuko was surprised he hadn't grown to be eight feet tall. "The Great Divide?"

"Yeah!" Aang got excited, hopping off of his rock to sit next to Sokka in a single, airbending fueled leap. "I've only been there once and it was amazing! I can't wait to show all of you!"

Zuko started to smile. A new horizon was always a way to lift his spirits.

* * *

"Here it is!" Aang cried happily, gesturing forward with his hand at the canyon below. "The Great Divide! Largest canyon in the world!"

Zuko looked down at the canyon, a huge crack in the ground created as if some giant earth bender had stomped and forced the very world itself to break beneath the pressure. The canyon stretched out for miles, and curved around the horizon.

"That's," Zuko began. "Awesome!"

"It's incredible!" Katara said with awe. "I could stare at it forever."

"I know right!" Aang said, turning to look at him with a huge smile. "It just goes on for miles! Here, I'll take us down so we can see it closer."

"That's okay Aang, we don't need to go down," Sokka objected. "We can see it clearly as we're flying away."

"Nah, we need to get in close," Zuko argued. "We might not come this way again, so we should make the most of it."

"Fine, fine," Sokka replied grumpily. "Just waste all our time, see if I care."

"Well if you insist," Katara snipped as Appa landed, allowing them all to get off and look at it from the ground.

The view from the ground was just as magnificent as seeing it from the sky. Even from here they could see licks of sand gusting across the ground and swirling as they flew over the cracks. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining bright and hot.

Zuko felt invigorated.

"Hey, out of my way!"

The source of their interruption shoved past the group, making his way down the path to a wooden shed that had been built at the Divide's entrance. He was a young man with a long goatee that hung down his chin all the way to his white, immaculate shirt with gold trimmings. He looked at the group with a hostility, but one born out of fear, not malice. "If you're looking for the canyon guide, I was here first!"

"There's a guide," Zuko repeated with an intrigued nod.

"Sounds informative," Katara added with a grin.

"He's not just a guide," The man barked in a huff. "He's an Earthbender! And he's the only person who knows how to get across the ravine and he's taking my tribe across first!"

"Okay, okay, we get it," Sokka said irritably. "You're first. Calm down!"

"You try being calm when the Fire Nation burned your home down!" The man shouted, pointing at Sokka. "Now our only hope is to get to Ba Sing Se and wait out the war."

Zuko did not wince when he heard that. But it took a lot of effort.

"Is that your tribe?" Aang asked, pointing down the road the man came from.

The Prince doubted that and he honestly had to stop himself from laughing. Not at the haggard, savage looking tribes dressed in furs per se, but because the rude, stuffy stranger that had shoved past them reminded him of the stuffy nobles back home who honestly believed the commoners below them were subhuman.

"What? No!" The man cried. "That's the filthy Zhang tribe!"

Their leader, an elderly woman with large muscles under a thick layer of fat, got irate. "Oh, it's a Gan Jin. Move aside, we've got sick to get through the canyon."

"I was here first!"

It then became apparent that the Zhang's _were_ the walking stereotype of the 'filthy commoner' he heard about in court. Rough, unsophisticated and didn't look too bright. They started to argue for a minute, then the guide came out; an old, portly man with a thick, white mustache.

"I was here first and my party is on the way!" The rude man said.

"I can't guide people who aren't here."

That did make Zuko snicker.

"Look, there they are!"

It was a mob of prim, proper and insufferably well put together people, led by an old man with long, immaculately brushed white hair and beard. It reminded him of the royal court so much he wanted to gag. They argued some more. Turns out they had elderly that needed to get across.

The argument was long and getting nowhere, until Katara spoke up.

"Listen up!" Katara shouted, stepping forward and gesturing to Aang. "This is the Avatar, and if you give him the chance, I'm sure he can come up with a compromise that makes everyone happy."

It took a moment before Aang could actually say anything. "You could share the guide and travel together?"

That just reignited the argument and Zuko was getting sick of both of these two tribes already.

"Alright, that's enough!" Aang shouted with authority.

The prince didn't know he had it in him.

"Appa will fly the sick and elderly across the canyon. The rest of you are going down the canyon together! Does that sound fair?"

The two tribal leaders nodded.

"Just remember to eat what you can now, before we go into the canyon!" The guide said. "No food in the canyon! It attracts dangerous predators!"

Zuko resisted the urge to cover his ears when they started arguing again. But just barely.

* * *

Naturally, the worst happened. While they were traveling down the canyon, they were attacked. By giant insects called Canyon Crawlers. The guide got both of his arms broken and Zuko, to his very slight disappointment, was useless against the behemoth bugs with his twin Dao swords. Very slight, because he felt like he just needed the right strategy to beat them off.

Thankfully, Katara was able to put the bones back in their proper order so they wouldn't be thrown too far up the creek, but the guide was absolutely _livid_. None of the Avatar's group could blame him, either, so Aang sent Sokka and Katara to find out the cause of this feud so they could actually make peace between the two tribes.

"I'm amazed they're still holding onto a hundred year grudge," Zuko remarked with an amused shake of his head. "Then again, I really shouldn't be."

"I just hope I can get them to get along," Aang said with a concerned expression up at the stars.

"Is that really your job, though?" Zuko asked with a frown.

"I'm the Avatar," Aang replied. "Making peace and settling feuds is my job. So I have to try."

Zuko just hummed. "Ten coins say that they both brought food."

"No way," Aang shook his head. "One of them did, sure, but both of them? They can't both be that stupid."

"Yeah, but I guarantee you they think the other tribe smuggled food in for whatever reason," Zuko continued. "Which means they're already going to have canyon crawlers bearing down on them so they might as well fight them off with full stomachs."

"I don't believe it," Aang shook his head again. "They can't be that dumb."

"Men fail and come up short. But stupidity will always exceed your expectations and accomplish the impossible," Zuko quoted with a wise voice. "My Uncle used to say that and he hasn't been wrong yet."

Sokka and Katara came back to their camp with fire in their eyes and a scowl on their faces and Zuko knew they were in for a fun conversation.

"Jin Wei was taking their sacred orb to the other side for their sacred ritual and Wei Jin ambushed him-"

"Ambushed him? Jin Wei was injured and Wei Jin was just trying to return it and they locked him up!"

"Yeah, for attacking Jin Wei and trying to steal the orb-"

"Quiet!" Aang shouted. "One at a time! Katara, you go first."

She explained about the Gan Jin's sacred rituals which took place at Sunrise and Sunset and how a Sacred Orb needed to be transported between two great gates to the east and west. During one such transition, Jin Wei was attacked by Wei Jin, who stole the Orb. The Gan Jin caught him and sentenced him to prison.

Then it was Sokka's turn, who defended Wei Jin's actions, stating that Jin Wei was already injured when Wei Jin found him and that Jin Wei implored Wei Jin to take the orb back to his village and that they would know what to do about the Orb. But the Gan Jin imprisoned Wei Jin for twenty years on a wrongful conviction.

"Okay," Aang said, taking a deep breath. "How do we get them to let this go?"

"I don't think they can," Katara said, folding her arms.

"Yeah, I don't think they should, either," Sokka agreed. "Wrongful imprisonment is a big deal."

"It wasn't wrong-"

"Stop," Zuko stated.

The siblings quieted down.

"Aang, what do you think about this?" Zuko asked, gesturing to the Avatar.

"I don't know," Aang said. "We can't change what happened a hundred years ago and their feud is putting everyone in danger. What do you think, Zuko?"

Zuko cupped his chin. "I have questions."

"Okay," Katara started, straightening up just a bit.

"Number one, why is Jin Wei and Wei Jin just the same name, but backwards?" Zuko asked.

Both Sokka and Katara started to think about that, saying nothing.

"Number two, if Wei Jin really did attack Jin Wei, why would he go back to Gan Jin village?" Zuko asked. "He would've had to know that he just attacked their tribe's Patriarch and would be swiftly incarcerated."

Katara started to nod her head in thought, looking like she wanted to say something but holding her tongue for the moment.

"Finally, if Jin Wei really did ask Wei Jin to take the orb back to the Gan Jin village, couldn't Jin Wei just clear up the misunderstanding once he got back to the village?" Zuko concluded. "I'm assuming he didn't die since the Gan Jin didn't execute Wei Jin."

Sokka and Katara looked at each other.

"Their stories make no sense," Katara stated.

"One of them has to be lying," Sokka pointed out.

"Probably both of them," Zuko said. "It was a hundred years ago and none of them were alive back then, so all they've got are the stories they were told by their parents and grandparents. Right?"

"So neither side really knows exactly what happened," Katara pointed out.

"Which means we can give them a different story and resolve this peacefully," Aang said with a grin. "I mean, I'm the Avatar, and I went all over the world a hundred years ago so whose to say I didn't know Jin Wei and Wei Jin?"

"That's a good plan," Sokka nodded.

Zuko just shrugged. "Do what you got to do. By the way, did either of them bring food?"

"Oh yeah." Sokka nodded.

"Uh huh," Katara replied.

"Called it." Zuko smirked.

"They both did?" Aang asked with a shocked expression. "How? No, no, _why_?"

* * *

The next day the nearly reached the end of the canyon. The guide was making good time since he still had his bending.

For his part, Zuko had really enjoyed the hike through the Canyon. It was pleasantly warm, had a nice breeze occasionally, seeing the incredible vistas, hearing the Guide's stories. Zuko was smiling throughout the day.

At least until trouble struck.

Crawling over the top and coming down the walls were the Crawlers, massive four-legged insects with massive jaws. They had surrounded the large party before either of them could do anything.

_Wish I had my Firebending…_ Zuko thought with a glare, brandishing his twin Dao's. He looked ahead of the path and saw the canyon's exit, blocked by a trio of crawlers.

Aang managed to blast one away with a rush of air, but two more charged him. The guide created pillars of earth beneath the crawlers, sending one flying, but the other simply grabbed the pillar with it's legs and rushed forward unimpeded. Katara was letting water whip after water whip fly, only stinging the Crawlers and stopping them momentarily.

The Gan Jin and the Zhang were brandishing swords behind the Prince, with Sokka holding Boomerang aloft, preparing to throw it. All around them, the crawlers were rushing forward. Just in front of him, Zuko saw three of them, running at top speed to eat him for dinner.

But through the chill of terror, Zuko felt something inside himself ignite. Something that had been completely dead was rushing back to life, however briefly and filling his limbs with heat.

As far as motivators went, wanting to live was a pretty good one.

He dropped his swords and for the first time in weeks, Zuko let sapphire flames rip out from his fists; creating a wall of fire in front of the bugs, sending them running in squeals. Zuko's head snapped to the left, where the back of the group was getting harangued by four of the beasts. The Prince jumped over and started letting loose. Bursts of flame pushed and shoved the crawlers, each of them screeching and squealing as the flames slapped them and burned their hides.

Zuko extended the wall he had made earlier to create a half circle, completely closing off that part of the canyon and sending the crawlers running. One remained, scrambling and crawling, trying to get around the wall of flame.

_That thing is going to jump over my wall if I don't do something_, Zuko thought, bringing his fingers together. _This should send a message to the rest of the Crawlers, though._

He had thought he was apathetic to his bending. Like it didn't really matter to him that it was gone, because he had other things instead. But here? Now? With lightning coursing through his arms and forming a closed circle in front of him, cracking and snapping with power?

The lightning bolt swift, true, and merciless. It struck the crawler on the head, making it explode in a mess of blackened flesh that let off thin, black trails of smoke that were scattered by the breeze.

Zuko realized how much he missed his bending.

He centered his chi, and turned to the group. All the refugees were staring at him with wide, terrified eyes. "We should get going now."

"Who are you?" The guide sputtered.

"The name's Lee," Zuko replied loudly and evenly. "I'm the Avatar's firebending instructor."

When they heard that, they all calmed down. It was fine, he was the instructor. He was a good guy and not going to burn them down like the Fire Nation burned down all their homes.

Aang, Katara and Sokka were also staring at him.

"That was _amazing!_" Katara gushed. "You got your bending back!"

"Yeah, you were like," Sokka jumped forward, miming Zuko's forms with exaggerated panache. "Boom! Fwoosh, fwoosh boom! Then at the end the bug was like _kaboom_! Aang, did you know you could bend Lightning? Because I sure didn't!"

"Thanks," Zuko smiled. "I just got some of my drive back is all. I wanted to live."

"So you'll be able to actually show me how the forms go?" Aang asked him with a smile.

"Yes I can," Zuko said. "But can you see why I want you to do things in the right order?"

Aang leaned to look around Zuko, staring at the electrocuted corpse of the Canyon Crawler for a moment before returning to his instructor. "I think I do, yeah."

"Glad you figured that out," Zuko said with a small smile. "I was afraid you were going to have to accidentally burn something before it sunk in that fire is a dangerous toy."

"Hey, I'm glad we're all safe, but can we get out of here before they come back?" The Zhang leader pointed at the exit with her thumb.

"As much as I hate to agree with a Zhang, I agree," The Gan Jin leader said. "We need to hurry to Ba Sing Se as quickly as possible, before the Fire Nation catches up with us."

Aang sighed in annoyance. "Yeah, let's go."

_That's almost too bad_, Zuko thought with some dismay. _Then again, resolving hundred year old feuds takes more than a day, doesn't it?_

* * *

_Author's Notes: __I admit, I didn't want to cover the Great Divide and to be honest, I didn't get much in the way of character development here. Just Zuko getting his drive back; I'm toying with the idea of him losing it again now that his life isn't in danger, but I'm not going to do that because that would be repetitive and annoying._

_Think I should've skipped it, looking back on it. OCD said 'don't skip' but...I think I should've skipped it to milk the whole 'bending-less' Zuko for all it was worth._

_ Also, the Zhang's and the Gan Jin make me want to rip my arteries out through my eyeballs. They are _so_ annoying._

_ Hope you guys enjoyed it!_

_Shout out too RichardWhereat, who I also need to apologize too because he became a Super Patron last chapter and I forgot to include him. Thank you, again, for all your support._

_ Shout out goes out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven, Handwran_and_Russel Beatrous. _Your continued support makes this possible, especially since, at the time of this writing, I haven't been updating regularly like I should. I apologize._

_ Until the next time!_

_~Fulcon_


	16. The Storm

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

"So you don't control lightning the way you control fire," Katara summarized, holding a cup of juice in her hand. "You control it like water. And that's what you figured out the other day that let you understand Waterbending forms."

It was later that night and the sun had long since fallen. The group were sitting around a roaring campfire, lit so helpfully by Zuko while Katara set the tents and Sokka hunted. Now, they were all eating before going to bed for the night.

"Now I'm just trying to figure out what water and lightning have in common," Zuko replied. "Why do they act the same way and why do the principles of my opposing element work so well in bending it?"

"It's a puzzle," Sokka said, stroking his chin with a grin. "Still, bending lighting is cool. It's definitely an advantage over the rest of the fire benders we'll run into."

"Not firebending," Zuko responded, running a hand through his black hair, cut short to make him look less Fire Nation, who all wore their hair in topknots. "Not when fighting the Fire Nation, anyway. It'd be a dead giveaway."

"Zuko, it's going to come out eventually," Sokka pointed out. "The sooner it does, the better for everyone."

"I don't want my Mother to know I turned traitor," Zuko replied quietly. "She still loves the Fire Nation."

"It's okay," Katara said kindly. "We've done pretty well without a master Firebender before, we can make do with a pair of extra swords."

"Thanks, Katara."

Aang looked vaguely annoyed for a second, before replacing the expression with a too happy grin. "Now we just need to figure out where to go next. We don't really need to stock up on supplies, do we?"

"No, we've got plenty," Sokka said with a pleased nod. "As long as you don't accidentally splash them all down a river again, we'll be fine."

"Hey, that was only one time!" Katara snapped in anger. "One time!"

"I'm just pointing out that it's happened before," Sokka replied, looking annoyed. "And that you and Aang need to be careful when you're splashing with your water."

"We're practicing waterbending forms!"

"It's the same thing!"

"It is _not_ the same thing!"

Zuko looked between the two siblings as they bickered and snipped at each other. _Well, I guess it's better than what Azula and I did before my exile. I wonder how she's doing…_

Aang looked at Zuko helplessly. Zuko just shrugged and took a bite out of the fruit in his hand. "I'm going to bed."

"Good luck getting to sleep," Aang replied.

"These two have nothing on the sailors I used to travel with," Zuko replied with a shrug. "Good night."

* * *

Zuko was awoken by the rise of the sun, as was normal. With a stretch, he got out of his sleeping back and rose to greet the day.

It was one of the few luxuries he still enjoyed, abandoning his ship and crew to travel with the biggest enemies of his people. He heat of the sun on his face as it banished the cold of night with it's return to the sky was one of the most comforting things Zuko had, and it was something that he didn't think could be taken from him.

Walking some ways off from the camp, Zuko began his practice. With his firebending restored, he needed to stoke his inner flames, as it were, and keep off the winds of apathy. He was the Avatar's Firebending Instructor and he realized that he could want that. So, he burned that pyre. He wanted balance to the world to be restored. He wanted to live. He wanted Sozin's efforts burned to ashes.

Zuko was also starting to realize that he wanted to make sure that Aang's friends, Sokka and Katara, made it through to the end. They were good. Annoying, overly emotional and prone to stupid mistakes, but...

They were already better than the grand majority of people he knew back home.

He performed all the forms he had learned, Rising Dragon, Sweeping Phoenix, The Ember Box, even threw in the smoke bending forms that he and his uncle had devised, keeping great care to stop the clouds from descending over his friends camp.

It was during this exercise, that Zuko noticed that Aang was tossing and turning fitfully.

_Nightmare_, Zuko thought in sympathy. _It'll pass._

He continued his practice until Aang awoke with a shout.

Zuko dispersed the smoke. "Bad dreams?"

"Yeah," Aang said, panting deeply, his eyes wide. He looked up at the sky. "Whew. No storm. An easy flight."

Katara stirred from her slumber. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Aang said quickly. "Sorry for waking you up."

"You sure?" Katara asked, yawning deeply.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Aang said. "So, today I was thinking we'd head off to see the horse crabs over here on the map! If you play a drum near them, you can make them dance in unison!"

Sokka awoke with a shout. "I had a dream where food eats people!"

Zuko couldn't stop his amused smile from spreading across his face. "Must've been some dream."

"We should avoid all markets!" Sokka continued. "And farms! All the farms!"

"Don't worry Sokka, we're not going to the market today," Aang replied with a chipper grin.

"Good," Sokka sighed in relief. "Good."

Then he fell back asleep.

Katara and Aang laughed affectionally.

* * *

"I can't believe I forgot we didn't have a pair of drums," Aang said in annoyance as they flew right into town.

"Ah, don't worry about it," Sokka said, bright eyed and bushy tailed from his spot on Appa's saddle. "That just means we can buy more stuff! Like a map! I love maps."

Zuko hummed, and turned to the last passenger. "Katara?"

"Yes?" Katara perked up. "What is it, Zuko?"

"Who were the first Waterbenders?" Zuko asked.

Katara blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Firebending comes from the sun and the first Firebenders were dragons," Zuko elaborated. "And Air is all around us, the first Airbenders were the flying bison. Right, Aang?"

"Yup!" Aang replied from his seat on Appa's head, sounding surprised but delighted to be included in the conversation. He lifted up and turned on a miniature cyclone to take a seat next to them. "The first Monk's saw how the Flying Bison bent the air and flew on the air currents and copied them."

"Exactly," Zuko nodded. "And Waterbending comes from the Moon. So...who were the first Waterbenders?"

Katara blinked. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

"Maybe it's a type of fish?" Aang suggested. "Like Elephant Koi!"

"Maybe Waterbending came from penguins?" Sokka added. "I mean, they go into the ocean to eat and live on land."

"Yeah, but they don't really bend water," Katara said. "Neither of those do. Sure, they swim through it, join the current, but neither really push or pull the currents like a Waterbender does."

The bison landed in town and the group disembarked.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Aang said. "Now, we just need to find some drums!"

Zuko shrugged and looked around. Upon seeing a temple, he started for there. If anyone would know who the fist Waterbenders were, it would be a sage. He felt kind of stupid for not checking this during his voyage on the ship, but he didn't think he'd need to go _this_ far back into bending history to get even a scrap of information beyond a few forms for Waterbending.

The temple was, compared to some others, small. It was just a room with a single shrine to one of the Avatar's built into the center. Standing at a podium to receive guests was one of the sages, an old man with the longest white beard he had ever seen in his life.

"Hello, young man," The sage said with a bow. "Are you here to meditate?"

"Maybe, but I have questions as well," Zuko started. "How much do you know about Waterbending?"

"Not much," was the reply. "What little I know was told to me by a traveling waterbender from the Foggy Swamp."

_Right, I almost forgot about them_, Zuko thought. "I really just need to know who the first Waterbenders were."

"That would be the Northern Water Tribe," The Sage responded.

"But where did they learn it from?" Zuko asked, his eyes narrowing.

"The Moon," The Sage answered.

"I know that Waterbending comes from the Moon like Firebending comes from the Sun," Zuko said, swallowing his irritation. "But that doesn't tell me who taught the Northern Water Tribe."

"Young man, you misunderstand," The Sage replied. "The Moon is not just the source of Waterbending, it is also the instructor. The Northern Water Tribe beheld how the moon would push and pull the currents as it soured across the sky with it's different faces over the long, polar nights."

Zuko blinked, his head turning in place. "How did they do that?"

"You would have to ask them," The Sage said. "If you can get there, at least. They're a fairly insular community. Or, you can ask the Foggy Swamp, if you're ever down there."

"Thank you," Zuko gave him a bow and moved toward the shrine.

It was rude to go to a shrine and not meditate, given the care and dedication the sages showed them.

* * *

"Hey! Wait!" Zuko shouted, running toward the flying bison that was making all due haste from the town. "Hold on! Don't leave without me!"

But it was useless, the Bison was gone. Zuko caught sight of Sokka and breathed a sigh of relief. "Where'd they go?"

"So, Aang flew off and Katara's flying after him," Sokka pointed out. "Some rude fisherman guy accused Aang of abandoning everyone when the war started."

"Ooh," Zuko replied, looking up at the sky. He saw dark clouds on the horizon, flying across the sky. "There's a storm coming."

"Nah, I think it's a few days off yet," Sokka replied with a shrug.

"So if Katara flew off after Aang, what are you doing here?" Zuko asked.

"She left without me!" Sokka whined in anger. "At least I'm not all alone."

"Oh," Zuko replied. "I was almost afraid you all left me behind."

"What? Nah," Sokka said, shaking his head. "You're irreplaceable. So, where did you go off too?"

"I found a shrine in the town, asked the Sage a few questions about Waterbending," Zuko replied. "Turns out, the Moon can teach Waterbending."

Sokka blinked rapidly in confusion. "How?"

Zuko shrugged.

* * *

The hours dragged on and like Zuko said, the storm arrived. The sun was blocked out and Zuko felt a chill run across his skin, the same one that happened every time a storm would hit them at sea. He hated it – it just felt unnatural.

To take cover, Zuko and Sokka checked into a hotel room, on Zuko's leftover gold. They still had plenty left, but Sokka was starting to eye the coin purse with worry. The only thing left to do was either sketch, in Sokka's case, or meditate, in Zuko's case.

Outside, the sound of rain pouring on the town and paths filled the room, lightning snapped and cracked

The four candle's Zuko brought with him sparked with every breath he took, rising and falling in time to the air entering and leaving his lungs.

_Something that had always bothered me,_ Zuko was thinking. _Was the question of 'where did Firebenders learn to bend lighting?' As far as I know, we don't have any records of how it was learned and it was only recently rediscovered by my Grandfather. So...who was the first Lightning Bender? Who did he learn from?_

Inhale.

_But if you don't need to learn from an animal, but could learn from just anything, what would teach Lightning bending?_ Zuko asked himself.

His question was answered when a loud crack of thunder threw open the windows of their room, allowing the wind inside to blow his candles out. Sokka startled so bad he drew a massive coal streak across the map of the town he was drawing.

_Oh_.

Sokka groaned in frustration and grabbed another piece of paper.

Zuko stood up. "I'm going out."

"What?" Sokka asked. "Where are you going?"

"To test something," Zuko answered. "Lightning related."

"Test something?" Sokka asked, squinting in thought. "Wait, you're going to try learning lightning bending from the storm?"

Zuko nodded.

"Okay, how do you plan on doing that?" Sokka asked critically.

"I'll figure it out when I get there," Zuko replied.

"But...you..." Sokka groaned in irritation. "I can't stop you, can I?"

"No."

"Alright, well," Sokka started with a glare. "Don't get yourself killed out there."

"Thanks," Zuko replied, walking out, down the steps and stopping right before he got to the rain.

_It's just a little rain_, Zuko thought, walking out into the store. Immediately, he was soaked through with rain and it only got worse as he walked out of the harbor town and into woods past it. He crested a hill and looked up at the storm clouds, instinctively squinting to protect his eyes from the falling raindrops.

_...I have no idea what I'm doing,_ Zuko realized with a shake of his head. _How do you learn from an inanimate object?_

He sat into a lotus position and tried to meditate. Tried. But from the rain soaking through his clothes to the sounds of thunder, so close he could taste the electricity, he couldn't clear his head. With a grunt of anger, he stood back up.

_Uncle used to say that bending was a spiritual connection to the elements_, Zuko thought in annoyance, staring out across the town to the ocean. _And Waterbending is, essentially, becoming one with the current and redirecting it. So...how do I get spiritually connected to the storm and then learn how to...redirect...it._

Zuko blinked, then slapped his forehead with a dripping wet palm. _I need to get struck. I'll finally be able to practice Lightning redirection, too. But how to actually get struck?_

He couldn't simply shout at it, the clouds were inanimate; they didn't care in the slightest what the people beneath them said, as they were always louder. The prince went over what he knew about lightning, how in order to bend you, you needed to separate your chi into yin and yang and then join them back together to create the strike.

_Natural lightning has to be the same way,_ Zuko thought. He started to bend a bolt of his own lightning and sent it up to the heavens. But something felt odd. He did it again and felt it; in the area around him was a high concentration of yin energy. Comparatively, there was an almost complete absence of yang. When he separated his yang energy and brought it out, he could feel the energy around him was being drawn to him, stopping when he sent the bolt up into the sky.

Zuko blinked. When you were bending lightning, you were separating then rejoining Yin and Yang to create a bolt of lightning. But the ground where lightning was striking was almost entirely Yin. Which meant...

"Yin," Zuko said, pointing to the ground. Then he pointed to the sky. "Yang."

He put his index fingers together, his hands vertical. "Lightning."

So he began again. He seperated his chi into Yin and Yang with his motion, but he kept the Yang inside, allowing the Yin to join with the rest of the chi that suffused the hill he was standing on. It almost felt like he was being smothered by it.

Then it happened.

Like a spear of divine retribution, lightning came down from the heavens and struck Zuko. It was fire, it was freedom, it was the most exhilarating thing that he had ever felt in his entire life. First, it hit his finger, then he directed it down to his stomach, then out the other hand, just as his Uncle had instructed him all those months ago.

Zuko was breathing heavily, his exhales coming out as uneasy laughs as he processed what just happened. There was no Yin energy on the hill, now. Only a slight excess of Yang. Up above, the clouds were striking themselves with forked electricity. So, he tried again, first using Yin. But that didn't work, so he swapped to Yang and was struck again.

His breathy, short laughs became fuller, and more manic as he was hit with another feeling of raw exhilaration. His legs gave way and he collapsed. As he rolled onto his back, the only thing he could do to the rain coming down upon him was laugh.

Because even as his body sang with the power he had just tasted, he realized that he had received two, very short but very complete lessons from lightning itself.

The first was that lightning was a current. Just like water. It was energy flowing from one place to another, searching for itself. While water was always flowing one direction, downward to more water, lightning was searching for the energy needed to correct it's imbalances. Both took the path of least resistance simply because that's the direction the current went. That was why lightning looked like it was a jagged spear or it was forking. It was jagged because that was the path it needed to take to find it's opposing energy was jagged. It was forking because it was finding little bits of the opposing energy it needed outside of the main bolt.

The second lesson was that in order to master lightning, he would need to master the current. He could not control lightning, he could only guide it, as his Uncle said. But guiding it meant controlling the current. That's why he was able to learn lightning redirection from Waterbender's; manipulating the current was their bending art's sole focus.

"Zuko!"

The prince found himself surprised when Katara was immediately kneeling over him, followed swiftly by Sokka and Aang. All of them looked gravely worried, as if they were watching someone die for the first time.

"We need to get him inside!" Sokka shouted over the din of the rain.

Zuko found himself unable to stop his smile when he heard the sound of thunder in the distance. He knew he couldn't redirect another bolt of lightning, but he really, really wanted too.

"I'll start working on his arms and legs," Katara said, bending rain out of the air to rejuvenate Zuko's arms.

"Appa, come over here buddy, we need you!" Aang shouted, running off somewhere where Zuko couldn't see.

After Appa lumbered closer, Katara had finished with his legs and the two siblings pulled Zuko up to his feet while the world around the prince slowly faded to black.

* * *

Zuko awoke and with some annoyance, he noted that his throat was very, very sore. Well, that's what he got for spending several hours out in a rainstorm. But it was worth it, what he learned was invaluable.

Master current, master lightning.

The door to his room opened and Katara entered, carrying a steaming tea pot.

Zuko couldn't quite form words, so he just grunted and tried to sit up.

"Don't try to get up," Katara said, quickly taking a seat next to his bed. "Here drink this."

Zuko was no stranger to medicinal teas. His Uncle had made _many_ over the course of his exile and like a dutiful nephew, he had drank them all. Most of them even helped. The one Katara made was very mild, but it opened his throat up enough for him to talk.

"Thanks," Zuko croaked out.

"Don't mention it," Katara said with a frown. "What were you thinking?"

"Did Sokka tell you what I learned yesterday?" Zuko asked, promptly devolving into a coughing fit.

When he was done, Katara poured more tea into his mouth. "No, actually. He just told us that you had been out in the storm for hours when Aang and I finally got back."

"Well," Zuko started. "Apparently, Waterbending isn't just powered by the Moon. The Moon _taught_ the Northern Water Tribe how to bend."

Katara blinked. "How?"

"I guess they just watched how the Moon moved the water and emulated it," Zuko shrugged. "Or something. But I wanted to try it myself and it seemed that Waterbending applied the most to Lightning so..."

"You tried to learn Lightning bending from the storm," Katara blinked. "Or water, or...that's not the point. The point is we watched you get struck by lightning, throw it back into the sky, and then fall to the ground!"

"You saw that?" Zuko asked. "That was the second time I got struck."

"The second time?" Katara retorted incredulously. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was!"

"Yeah," Zuko croaked out.

"Promise me you won't do that again."

"No."

"Zuko!" Katara snapped. "You're Aang's firebending instructor! If you die doing that, Aang might not ever find someone to replace you! You can't take pointless risks like that!"

"I needed to practice Lightning redirection," Zuko replied.

"Why?" Katara asked. "When will that ever actually be needed?"

"My father bends lightning," Zuko pointed out idly. "Aang might want to know how to beat the technique."

Katara fell quiet, pursing her lips in anger as she continued to feed Zuko tea, freeing his throat up more with every mouthful. At the end, with the pot empty, Zuko was able to sit up. Katara picked up the pot and stood to leave.

At the entrance, Katara paused. "Zuko, I just don't want to see you get hurt. You're a part of our family now and we're all glad we met you. So...just keep that in mind, alright?"

She left the room and Zuko was able to take a breath.

_Katara has a point_, Zuko thought with a sigh. _I want the Fire Nation to take a dive, I can't just go doing dangerous things just because I feel like it._

* * *

_Author's Note: Not really a whole lot to say about this chapter. Sadly, I've only got one more in the pipe after this, burning out before I even got to the North Pole. Really sad, but I intend to see my projects through. I hope you guys are enjoying it...I know some of you are, but there's a bug on FFnet where most of my readers are that left me unable to read the reviews on my latest chapters._

_Perhaps that's for the best. Still...it'd be nice to make sure you guys are suitably entertained._

_ Shout out goes out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven, Handwran_, _Russel Beatrous _and _RichardWhereat. _Your contributions continue to make this possible! Thank you!_

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	17. Frozen Frogs

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

Zhao held the letter in his hands, a grin painting itself across his face until it morphed into a full-on smile, as he read the contents, Colonel Shinu reading over his shoulder.

"It appears that I have been promoted to Admiral," Zhao said, turning to the colonel while wearing his grin. "My request is now an order."

Shinu bowed.

Finally.

Zhao had been waiting for his promotion for months and now he had everything he needed to start pulling everything he could for his passion project, the one that got him promoted to the post of Admiral in the first place, in addition to all his loyal and competent service: The Invasion of the North Pole.

_Zhao the Moonslayer_. He could already see it now. The parades in his honor and for the honor of the men in his command. The Northern Water Tribe subjugated and beaten, their foul waterbenders in chains.

But still, he had two very important tasks to take care of before the Invasion could truly be considered foolproof.

The first, the capture of the Avatar and execution of his two friends.

The second, the safe return of the exiled Prince Zuko before he was delivered to the Northern savages or the Earth Kingdom.

Plus, if the Prince Zuko, now by all reports a calm, collected and spirits preserve them, _dignified_ Prince of the Fire Nation caught the Avatar thanks to Zhao's efforts, the future Firelord would be in his debt.

If he were still that mouthy, cowardly child who earned the scar over his eye, Zhao wouldn't even consider helping him. The Firelord would have Zuko assassinated before he could take the throne because of the danger his rule would present to the Nation and possibly himself because they would apparently be 'close allies'.

"From the most recent reports, the Avatar was seen traveling in this area," Zhao said. "I want the Archers to go hunting."

It was time to capture this giant spanner in the works of his plan.

* * *

"He's got a raging fever," Katara said, holding the back of her hand against Sokka's forehead. "The tea hasn't worked, so he'll need something stronger."

"Can't you just, I don't know, bend the sickness out of him?" Aang asked with worry.

"I can try," Katara said, bending water out of her water skin and slipping it into Sokka's sleeping bag. Her face screwed together in concentration for a moment, before she gave up with a sigh. "It's no good. It's like his chi has been infected and I don't know how to clean it."

She replaced the water and Sokka started coughing in his sleep.

"Well, at least he's not muttering about how Appa can talk," Zuko said with a bemused smirk.

"Hey, Sokka's really sick so can you lay off the jokes?" Katara snapped.

Zuko just shrugged, and said nothing further.

"If we could get-" Katara began, only to be cut off by a coughing fit.

"You okay?" Aang asked, now very concerned.

"It's just a little cough," Katara replied with a fake cheer. "Nothing to worry about."

The two healthy members of their party were unconvinced.

"There's an herbalist institute not far from here," Aang said, extending his gliders wings. "At least, there was one a hundred years ago. If it's still there, they'll know how to treat you both. Zuko, could you look after them?"

"Sure," Zuko replied as Aang flew off. "Not like I can do anything else."

He looked up then sighed and started muttering to himself. "Alright, Zuko. Lets get some more tea going...going to need some more water..."

He grabbed the water skin that had been left on the stone floor of the ruins and turned to Katara. "Hey, I'm off to get more water. Try to take it easy, alright?"

"Alright," Katara nodded, coughing some more. She slid, slowly and carefully into her sleeping bag. "We'll be here."

Zuko was pretty disappointed. The ruins of Taku were always a great place to sight see; the old city had once been a vibrant city of commerce, transporting cargo trading, people going in and out on their ways out, before the Fire Nation had ransacked the city. The history of this place was thick enough to taste...and the two siblings had to spend the trip sick.

He had been here once before, so he knew that there was a stream that ran through the town where he could refill the skin. As he left their campsite, Momo hopped on Zuko's shoulder to accompany him, making the Prince pause for a moment before he continued on.

* * *

"But I need it now!" Aang shouted in exasperation.

"Ah ah, patience young man," The elderly herbalist lightly tapped the Avatar's nose with a small, wooden spoon. "Your friends will be fine and these things take time. Now, as I was saying..."

* * *

"Thank you," Katara croaked out as Zuko tipped the tea into her mouth.

"Don't mention it," Zuko replied. "I owe you one, remember?"

"No, you don't," Katara rebutted weakly. "We're supposed to look out for each other."

He just hummed in response, taking a seat by the fire and started to meditate, causing it to rise and fall in time with his breathing.

"Zuko?" Katara started. "I'm sorry Roku threatened you."

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked with a frown.

"When we first met," Katara clarified, starting to cough. "You didn't want to join the group and then Roku showed up and threatened doom and..."

She devolved into a full on coughing fit and Zuko set the pot of water on the rack above the fire. "It's fine, Katara."

"No it's-" Katara coughed again. "Not."

"Look, Roku threatening me wasn't the reason I joined you guys," Zuko replied with an annoyed grunt.

"It wasn't?"

"No."

"Then why did you join us?" Katara asked.

Zuko stoked the fire a moment, thinking. "Because I saw a way out."

"Of the Fire Nation?" Katara asked.

Zuko hummed before responding. "Yes...and no."

Katara grunted in confusion.

"When we met, I was stuck," Zuko continued. "I was floating without a real purpose or any way forward. It's why I lost my bending. I wanted to keep exploring the world, but news of the Avatar's return made that difficult, because the crew of my ship took the news of the Avatar's return as a sign that they might be able to return home. To finally finish their mission, go back to the Fire Nation as heroes. But I wanted nothing to do with it."

Katara blinked, but was listening.

"I wanted to see the world, keep learning about bending...but beyond that, I didn't know what I wanted." Zuko poured some more tea and moved over to Katara and feed her some more. "I knew I wanted the Fire Nation to lose, but I didn't want everyone to know I was a traitor. I didn't want to be tied to my crew anymore, but I didn't want to lose my Father's coin."

Zuko took the cup back and made sure she got it down. "But then I met you and you, well, gave me the ability to move on. You gave me the ability to see the world without my Father's coin and the ability to learn the other Bending arts. All at the cost of faking my death."

"I'm sorry," Katara croaked out.

Zuko shook his head. "I didn't ever want to go back anyway."

"But you didn't want your Mom to know," Katara coughed out. "Right?"

"Right," Zuko replied with a nod.

It was at this point that Katara fell asleep, her eyes falling closed as the conversation had taken its toll on her. Zuko looked down and shook his head.

"But now I'm wondering which one is worse..."

* * *

"What happens when they thaw?"

"They're useless!"

* * *

With both Sokka and Katara asleep, Zuko had decided to practice his water forms. With the campfire lit and licking the teapot suspended over the campfire with heat and smoke, Zuko took the flames and bent them in rings around his shoulders, flipping it around his arms and between his legs in one smooth motion.

But he wasn't just practicing just for a sake of it, he needed to understand something.

When you performed Waterbending, you were joining the flow of water and redirecting it. It 'obeyed' you and went where you wanted it too because that's where the current was flowing and for all intents and purposes it was going over there anyway, and there just happened to be in your best interests.

If this idea of 'current' could be applied to fire and lightning, what else could it affect? Could it affect the way a person's life turned out? Could it change the outcome of a series of events? Could this finally be the thing that gave Zuko control over his own destiny?

_Destiny_.

That old albatross around his neck, the manacle he couldn't dislodge, his Uncle's favorite word as of late. Zuko honestly couldn't think of a worse pestilence of filth and disease hanging over his head than the thing that ruled his every move. Even Avatar _Roku_ had claimed destiny when he told Zuko to join Aang.

Or at least very close too it.

It aggravated him, now that he was thinking about it, but getting angry could wait.

If destiny was a current, if life was a current, it had an ending. A river or an ocean or a puddle that it would flow into. A conclusion that happened at the end as a result of the actions that he had taken or been forced into. So what was the end of this road Zuko was on?

He would go on adventures with the Avatar, meeting members of the Northern Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom. He'd go on making friends, possibly close friendships with members of each group and teach Aang Firebending when he was ready. Then, when Aang had defeated his father, there would need to be a new Firelord. A Firelord who desired peace, who had diplomatic connections to the other nations and could be trusted on both sides of the negotiation.

That person would be Zuko.

His Uncle even said it was his destiny to become Firelord.

Zuko took a deep breath, the fire circling his body flaring out in strength and power.

Now that he saw where the current led, he needed to know how to change it. Of course, the way to do that was obvious.

He had to separate from the Avatar.

Zuko fed the fire back into the flame pit and pulled out another stream.

But the problem was that he wanted to teach the Avatar Firebending. He did. Aang seemed like an eager student with a lot of potential and if anything, the Avatar was the perfect person to see if anything he was learning about bending actually held water. Eventually, Aang would be teaching _him_ Water or at least Earthbending.

What he wanted now versus what he wanted in the future.

The same dilemma he was in when he met Aang.

He now had the drive but not the means to accomplish all of his goals and it was maddening.

Besides, if he left now and the Fire Nation came to their campsite with Sokka and Katara too sick to do anything, he would be kicking himself until the end of time.

So he'd bide his time until the opportunity came to change the current came along. Besides, he needed to get good at changing currents first and he'd _hate_ to mess this up.

* * *

Aang _hated_ being jailed.

He couldn't tell what was worse, being contained in a box or having all of his limbs chained to posts so he couldn't bend.

The door in front of him opened and in entered a Fire nation guy, with sideburns so thick he wondered if they could be considered tiny jungles growing on the sides of his face.

"Well, well. The Avatar," Sideburns said, glaring down at him. "When I sent the Yuyan Archer's out to hunt for you, I didn't think they'd just magic you out of a hat."

"I guess they're just that good," Aang snipped, glaring up at him. "Who are you, anyway?"

"My name is Admiral Zhao. And while I'd love to sit here and bicker with a child all night, I have important things to do. Where is Prince Zuko?"

"Oh, uh," Aang started, looking around the room while he tried desperately to recall what they did. "Didn't he die in the, uh, explosion?"

Zhao smirked. "I'm afraid your trick with the Dragonlily juice failed. I know you kidnapped him. Now answer the question, Avatar. Where is he?"

Aang's eyes went wide. "I don't know!"

"You don't know," Zhao repeated, decidedly unimpressed. "Why not?"

"Because," Aang began. "We dropped him off with the Earth Kingdom after we left the pier. I don't know where he is! You'll never find him!"

Zhao's eyebrow raised in irritation. "Is that so?"

"Yeah!"

"When did you drop him off?" Zhao asked.

"Uh," Aang stopped. "I don't remember?"

"Perhaps we can jog your memory?" Zhao said, frowning deeply and glaring dangerously down at the twelve year old.

Whatever the Admiral had in mind was stopped dead in its tracks when a frog hopped out from the inside of Aang's collar. Then another. And another. "What? No, no! Please! Go back to being frozen!"

Zhao blinked, looking at the frog and then at Aang.

"What are the frogs for?"

"My friends are sick!" Aang started to plead. "Please, they'll die if they don't suck on those frogs!"

Admiral Zhao had used stranger remedies. "Is that so? Well, I'll offer you a deal, Avatar. You tell me where Prince Zuko is, or give me every possible detail you can remember to lead to his safe retrieval as well as the location of your camp, and I'll send a detachment of troops out to retrieve some frogs for them. They'll even deliver."

"But-" Aang started.

"I wouldn't take too long to decide," Admiral Zhao said over his shoulder. "I imagine those frogs won't be frozen during daylight and as you so poignantly pointed out, your friends don't have much time."

The Cell door shut behind Zhao and Aang was left to his thoughts.

He _hated_ being locked up.

Aang tried to meditate, but the sound of the croaking frogs only drove the message that he needed to escape into his skull, forcing him out of his trance each time he tried. A frog leaped out of his collar, another out of his sleeve.

"Wait! No! Stop!" Aang pleaded with the amphibians as they jumped around the cell, croaking and dragging their frozen arms and legs on the ground. "Go back to being frozen! My friends need you!"

This continued until Aang Aang had no more frogs.

He couldn't just tell the Fire Nation where Sokka and Katara were. If Zuko didn't fight them off, he'd just get captured.

The boy monk froze in his binds.

_Katara is going to die._

Then the Avatar's cell filled with light.

* * *

It had happened so quickly.

First, the explosion. Cries of panic and war as the garrison rallied to contain the threat.

Then, the hurricane winds billowing through the fort, blowing dust and dirt in cyclones, ripping the Fort apart like knives were cutting through the air. A tidal wave broke through the southern wall and in the center of the chaos floated the Avatar.

His tattoos glowing with spiritual energy. His clothes whipping and snapping in the wind. His twelve year old face twisted to show wrath that was older than time itself.

Just as quickly as it started, it ended.

Fort Pouhai was in ruins. The walls were completely destroyed and the main tower with them.

At his feet, the wooden ruins of the fort where strewn about to the treeline. With a roar of anger, the debris was set ablaze. With a roar of rage and frustration, the flames became an inferno.

Zhao felt like he should have seen this coming. He had seen it before, after all; at the Fire Temple on Winter Solstice. He had assumed that invoking the power of past Avatars was a one time thing, something he could only do at places of high spiritual power.

But of course it stood to reason that the Avatar had a defense mechanism. The cycle would've been broken long before Firelord Sozin was even a thought if it hadn't.

Zhao allowed the flames to die down, even as his fists were still trembling with rage.

He should have seen this coming.

What use did a force of nature have for bargains?

This was his fault.

At that moment, the Admiral vowed that he would not make this mistake again.

He turned on his heel and came face to face with Colonel Shinu. "Start looking for survivors! I want the wounded to get treatment immediately!"

* * *

"Zuko!" Aang shook his instructor awake.

Zuko was awake immediately. "Aang? About time! What took so long?"

"I got captured," Aang said quickly. "But listen, they know you're not dead."

"Wait, what?" Zuko asked, alarmed. "How?"

"The Admiral there, Zhao," Aang spoke quickly. "He saw through the dragon-lily juice."

Zuko blinked. "Zhao's an admiral?"

Aang nodded.

"Okay then," Zuko said with some dismay. "So the Fire Nation knows I turned traitor after all. That...isn't good."

"Well, not exactly," Aang replied. "They think we kidnapped you."

Zuko froze, then busted out laughing. "Oh wow...well, it's better than nothing."

He looked up from his impromptu resting spot against Appa and saw Sokka and Katara...with something in their mouths. "What are they sucking on?"

"Frogs!" Aang said cheerfully.

Zuko had used stranger remedies. "Well, they're going to be in for a shock when they finally wake up..."

* * *

_Author's Note: This takes place in the same timeline as The Blue Spirit __in canon. __In this case, Zuko actually __didn't have his blue spirit gear, having left it with his Uncle in the Pier. Actually, we haven't seen Iroh in a while. Hm._

_Also, this is the last chapter in the backlog. A while ago, I was inspired to actually write this story by another fic that had Aang be captured and then have Zuko's infiltration gambit work, bringing Aang to the firelord. I thought 'oh, this is cool but...wouldn't the Avatar State have gotten him out of jail?' so...here we are. Where the Avatar State got him out of jail. Updates are going to be sparse from now on, or at least as often as I can get out._

_ Shout out too _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Ventari, PbookR, Seij, ChristobalAlvarez, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven, Handwran_, _Russel Beatrous _and _Richard Whereat. _Thank you for your continued support._

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


	18. The Fortune Teller

_ The following is a fanbased work of fiction. Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Koniezko. Please support the official release._

* * *

The moon hung over the starry sky like a coin of water tribe silver. Surrounded by a blanket of stars and shadow, she watched over the earth beneath as sentinel, calm and to the great frustration of those below her, silent.

Beneath her, working at the stream and impatiently fuming, was Katara.

"C'mon, Moon! Work with me here!" She shouted, holding her hands up like she were entreating the heavenly body to bestow great wisdom upon her.

Watching her trying to learn on the shore was Aang, who looked concerned, as well as Sokka and Zuko, who were both trying to avoid laughing. Sokka was biting his finger. Zuko was letting little dark clouds out the side of his mouth, like he was smoking a pipe.

Katara stood again, and tried to perform the water whip. The water emerged from the stream and once again, slapped her across the face. "Why are you like this?"

Sokka lost it, braying like a mule and clutching his stomach. Zuko accidentally swallowed the smoke he had been exhaling and dissolved into a coughing fit, but recovered fairly quickly.

"Uh...Katara?" Aang asked. "Are you okay?"

"No! No, I am not okay!" Katara fumed, storming up to the camp from the shore. "I don't care what that sage said, the Moon is _not _a teacher!"

"Maybe you're just a poor student," Zuko snipped, grinning from ear to ear.

"A poor student?" Katara repeated with all the wrath of an offended goddess. "Now listen here you stupid little fire-flake, how is anyone supposed to learn from a giant, inanimate object flying through the sky that doesn't talk to anyone?"

"I have no idea," Zuko answered, still grinning.

"Then how am I a poor student?" Katara demanded, her face scrunched up like Momo's when Sokka played keep-away with the berries for too long.

"Katara?" Aang tried to butt in, calmly and politely.

"You keep making the water smack you in the face," Zuko pointed out, trying to avoid laughing again.

"That's not my fault!" Katara retorted. "I just haven't even been told how to do the technique properly!"

"Katara?" Aang tried to interject.

"The Avatar's been showing you how to do it since you met me," Zuko replied, an arched eyebrow joining his newly subdued grin.

Katara threw her hands up in the air and growled in rage before storming off.

"Katara?" Aang tried a third time.

Katara whirled to face Aang. "WHAT?"

Aang blinked and took a deep breath. "We need to meditate."

"What good would that do?" Katara barked.

"You can't receive spiritual instruction when you aren't centered," Aang started to stand just a little straighter. "If you're letting yourself get frustrated and angry, then it becomes really hard to get in tune with the spiritual aspect of bending. So let's go back down to the river and meditate. Okay?"

Katara let out a petulant breath. "Fine."

They both walked down to the river bank and Zuko had a thoughtful look on his face.

Sokka looked up at his fire bending compatriot with a curious look on his own face. "Whatcha thinking about?"

"What Aang just said," Zuko said with a shrug. "About anger getting in the way of the more spiritual side of bending."

"What about it?" Sokka asked.

"Firebending, for the grand majority of the fire nation now, if fueled by anger," Zuko explained. "But if anger just gets in the way, then it makes sense why there's fewer benders in the fire nation."

"I don't get it," Sokka replied, confusion coloring his face.

"Well, bending is inherently spiritual in nature," Zuko continued. "So if anger just gets in the way of spirituality, and the fire nation is fueled by anger and hate, then there's less spirituality and then, less benders."

"But if anger just gets in the way of spiritual mumbo-jumbo," Sokka pressed, looking annoyed as he tried to figure it out. "How does it fuel fire bending?"

"Well, the pure fuel of fire bending is drive," Zuko explained. "Anger and hate bring a kind of drive. The drive to hurt someone, see them suffer. But it's not as good as pure drive."

"Then why did it take over as the fire nation's bending fuel?" Sokka asked.

"Because a spiritually aware fire nation isn't a fire nation that would fight a war against the whole world," Zuko replied. "Which adds yet another reason to see Sozin's war burn."

"Did you need another?" Sokka asked with a smirk.

"Well, you can't really have too many, can you?"

"Point."

Down by the river, Aang and Katara were sitting on their knees in the soft sand.

"Deep breath in, deep breath out," Aang said. "Just let your mind empty. Everything is okay. Feel the air around you. Hear the river course along. Just take a deep breath. Let the mind empty like a pitcher of water."

Katara took a breath.

Then exhaled.

She took another breath.

Then exhaled.

Yet another breath.

Her snarl of frustration startled Aang.

"Just forget it," Katara said, standing up and walking back toward the camp. "It's not working, I'm not getting anything."

"Katara," Aang entreated.

"I said forget it!"

Zuko blinked in annoyance, but figured it was useless to try to talk to her right now.

* * *

"A fortune teller?" Aang asked, sounding kind of excited.

The group was gathered over Aang's map, with Zuko's additions added in charcoal marks.

"Yeah," Zuko replied. "I thought about seeing her when I was feeling desperate."

"Why didn't you go see her at all?" Aang asked curiously.

"Because I had eyes, ears and a brain," Zuko replied, deadpan.

"See, that's what I'm saying," Sokka said, animatedly gesturing toward the map. "It's a load of platypus bear droppings. You can't possibly predict the future."

"I think it sounds fun," Katara said, looking like she was feeling better since last night. "Let's go, get our future read and see if any of her predictions come true!"

"Anything she gets right would just be a lucky guess," Sokka argued. "Seriously, you can't predict the future. That whole thing is just dumb."

"Well, if people than bend the elements through spiritual mumbo jumbo," Zuko began, echoing the water tribal's words right back at him. "Then telling the future can't be that far fetched."

"Everything can be explained through rational and intelligent observation," Sokka argued.

"And fortune telling," Katara snipped with a smug grin.

"Hey, no! No!" Sokka snapped in annoyance. "All fortune telling is just a bunch of generalized predictions couched in vague suggestions and sometimes fancy pyrotechnics."

"Sokka, is there a reason a fortune teller makes you this upset?" Zuko asked curiously.

"Their frauds!" Sokka snapped with a huff.

"I heard Old Man Jarko played a prank on him and some of the other kids by pretending to be an evil spirit that would roam through the village at night," Katara explained. "He had them going for a whole week before our dad stepped in and put a stop to it. Since then, he's never believed a word about spirit stuff."

"Hey, he didn't fool me," Sokka denied with all the passion he could muster without screaming. "I knew it couldn't have been an evil spirit because I kept calm and examined the facts. Everything can be explained by scientific examination. Including _bending_."

"That scientific examination points to spiritual mumbo jumbo," Aang said with a bright, mischievous smile.

Sokka groaned, getting right up in Aang's face and tapping his chest with a finger. "You are _not helping_."

"Besides, if it's all fake, then what can it hurt?" Zuko asked, shrugging. "We can all use a good laugh."

Sokka sighed in defeat. "Fine!"

* * *

The fortune teller was an old lady, called by the name of Aunt Wu. Uncle Iroh would've liked her, she was old and full of wisdom that she preferred to cloak behind a veil of mystery and mysticism. And, if he understood correctly, she had a reliable way of predicting the weather by watching the clouds.

Zuko was the last of the group to go see her. Aang had apparently gone to eavesdrop on Katara's meeting and came back looking smug and triumphant, but wouldn't say why. Sokka's reading had taken place at their first meeting, and to Zuko's delight, she had said that Sokka was someone heading for disaster, and it would be all his fault.

Zuko adjusted his seat in the dark room, the only light being the fire directly in the center.

"We cast the bone into the fire and watch the cracks," Aunt Wu explained, holding a femur. "Those will tell us how things are going to turn out."

"Go ahead," Zuko said with a nod. He had no idea how that would actually work, but there were a lot of things that Zuko didn't understand how they worked. Metallurgy, Tai Lee, the machinations of the royal court; but he didn't need to understand them to accept that they existed.

Aunt Wu did so. Zuko watched closely as the bone started to crack down the middle, forking to two separate paths.

He could guess what those paths were. He sighed at the triteness of it all.

"You have a very set and defined road ahead of you," Aunt Wu said. "Interestingly, both paths lead to royalty and family. See the crown at the end of both of them? Combined with the tree crack."

"I'm afraid I don't," Zuko replied diplomatically.

Aunt Wu hummed. "Well, the first path you are already on, because it's crack starts before the other. It's a good one, relatively straight forward. You are traveling with the Avatar, but the alternative path will open it's doors to you soon. It is marked, if I'm reading this right, by betrayal."

"Why would I betray the Avatar?" Zuko asked with a frown.

"Given how thin the crack is, I don't think it's likely, but the start of the break has the Family Tree," Aunt Wu said, pointing at the crack. "So, if you do decide down that path, then it will be due to family."

Zuko rolled his eyes. "But both paths lead to Royalty?"

"They do," Aunt Wu said. "You don't don't sound surprised."

"I don't want the crown," Zuko replied. "I don't want the crown. Or my family, even. Is there a way to change fate?"

Aunt Wu hummed. "Many in my profession would insist that there is no way to change your fate. But they would be lying. Fate can be changed. But it is a difficult thing, simply because so many forces are hurrying you along this path."

"Like swimming against the current," Zuko said, his frown deepening.

"A good metaphor," Aunt Wu replied with a nod of approval. "Young man, fate is what we make of it. It is the long term consequences of our actions and behavior over a long period of time. Right now, your actions and behavior are setting you on this path. The reason fortune telling works, to a point, is because people don't usually change."

"You sure?" Zuko asked flatly.

"Don't sass me, young man," Aunt Wu replied, a smirk betraying her wry amusement. "A person may grow, their old wounds may heal and they might transcend their weaknesses, but their fundamental character remains the same. They are who they are."

"So if someone changes, they didn't really change," Zuko said, reflectively staring into the fire. "They just grew."

"Exactly," Aunt Wu's smirk grew to a smile. "A cunning gardener who cares for a tree may want their tree to grow a specific way and they be able to carry out their vision; but no matter how hard he tries, he cannot ignore the roots, or how the tree has already grown."

"So I'm doomed," Zuko said, glaring at the bone. "At least, that's what the bone says."

"No, no, no," Aunt Wu shook her head. "Have you not been listening? Changing fate is possible. You just need to take charge of how you grow."

Zuko's glare toward the bone intensified.

Aunt Wu hummed in thought. "What does a Gardner do with a tree with branches that are growing out of line?"

Zuko shrugged, having not even the slightest idea.

"They prune them," Aunt Wu replied. "By pruning branches that have grown out of line, the tree flourishes because it is able to put its energies into the growth of the trunk."

"What if the trunk is the thing I don't want to grow?" Zuko asked.

"A crown is not a trunk," Aunt Wu replied, waving that off without so much as a pause for consideration. "It's only a station. A profession. Something that you may be well suited for, a place where you may spare the world a great deal of pain and devastation, but merely a station. The thing about stations is that there are always multiple candidates for the position."

_Like Uncle Iroh_, Zuko thought with a smirk. Then a thought occurred to him. "Do you know which crown we're talking about?"

"From the scar, I guessed," Aunt Wu said. "But don't worry, young man. Your secret's safe with me."

Zuko just shrugged, and glowered down at the burning bone. "It's just a scar."

"Indeed," Aunt Wu agreed.

* * *

"So...Zuko?" Aang began. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"No, I'm not going to show you how to make sparks by snapping your fingers," Zuko droned with a thoroughly bored look at his bald pupil.

"No, no, no!" Aang rapidly shook his head in agitation. "That's not what it's about. It's well...I don't know. Uh...are you, I don't know um...how do I say this?"

Zuko placed his hands behind his back and waited.

"Are you...do you have a girlfriend?" Aang asked.

"Is this about your crush on Katara?" Zuko asked trying and failing to keep the smirk off of his face.

"Not so loud!" Aang said, rapidly looking around in embarrassed fervor.

"Okay," Zuko replied, indulging his student by lowering his volume. "But is it?"

The answer was strained, like it had to be forcibly wrung out of him like filth from a wet flag. "Yes."

Zuko hummed. "Well, no. I don't have a girlfriend. There was a girl back in the fire nation, but I haven't seen her in years. And I'm not looking, anyway."

"You're not looking," Aang repeated, relief washing the worry off of his face like a tsunami.

"Yeah. Not looking," Zuko replied. "I'm really not in a position to be dating someone and honestly, it'd just be a distraction."

"Whew! Okay," Aang said with a grin. "Thanks, Zuko!"

"Why do you ask?" Zuko asked with a crooked eyebrow.

"Oh," Aang froze, looking straight to the side. "No reason. I just, uh...wow, it's getting late, isn't it? I need to go grab some-"

"Aang," Zuko pressed, grabbing him by the shoulder to stop him from leaving.

"Look, it's no big deal," Aang deflected, shaking Zuko off. "I was just curious because she talks about you a lot. There's no way she really likes you or anything."

Zuko blinked, taken aback. "Huh. Okay then."

That made a strange amount of sense, but it didn't change anything. Zuko still wasn't interested, he had things to figure out.

"So, uh...see you!" Aang said, jumping away.

Zuko blinked, staring at him as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop like a flying lemur.

* * *

When it came to an erupting Volcano, Zuko was surprisingly disappointed. Not in the Volcano, watching it spew fire and molten death into the sky was the greatest thing that he had ever seen, but rather in himself; he had been completely unable to do anything.

There was a common misconception, Zuko had found, that fire benders could bend lava. He didn't know if that was actually true, but what he did know was that he couldn't do it. So the best he could do was watch his three friends turn away the very destruction that had claimed the life of Aang's predecessor so long ago.

He could not assist the town's earth benders as they dug a trench to redirect the lava currents. By the time he had found out about the disaster, Aang and Katara had formulated a plan to use the clouds to fool Aunt Wu.

Zuko couldn't assist the Earth Benders as they dug a trench around the town. He couldn't bend the lava away. They didn't even have enough shovels for him.

Not for the first time, Zuko felt like an extra. A parasite.

Like he didn't belong.

Even with his bending back, Avatar Aang wasn't ready for instruction. Katara's infatuation, if it actually existed or if Aang was merely imagining it, was causing a division in the group. Though, frankly, Aang was only hyper focused on her because she was a very pretty girl who would regularly talk to him.

Zuko wasn't entirely sure that a tribal girl whose main worries were taking care of her village would do well permanently adopting the nomadic lifestyle of the Avatar. She might've, but he doubted it.

"Zuko, what are you thinking about?" Katara asked.

He had been sitting in the little lobby outside of all their rooms, and Katara had sat down beside him. Sokka had his door open, sketching on a piece of paper as a way to pass the time until Katara went to bed; very sly of him, Zuko noted. Aang had hid behind a corner in the shadows in a surprisingly well executed maneuver. In front of him was a small candle, which he had been planning to use for meditation, but that had gotten away from him.

Zuko looked straight ahead. "I don't want to talk about it."

"You can trust me," Katara said with a small smile.

He very nearly snapped at her for ignoring what he said. But that would be bad. How to handle this diplomatically? "Katara. I appreciate that you want to help. Thank you. But I...do not want help. If I want help, I'll tell you, alright?"

Katara frowned like he had just hurt her feelings. "Are you sure? I can tell you're upset about something."

"You're right, I am," Zuko said with a nod. "And if I need help handling it, I'll ask for it. But until then, I want to handle it myself."

Katara sighed in disappointment. "Alright, fine I guess. I'll go to bed."

She stood up and walked off toward her room, muttering to herself. "Boys."

Zuko looked down and started focusing on the candle wick.

With a breath, it grew brighter and taller.

With a breath, the room was plunged into darkness.

* * *

_Author's Note: So, I demonitized. I want to take the time to thank everyone who ever supported me in writing, it means the world to me. But...I fell below the bar, and didn't deserve the support. Here, let me post what I did in my post that explained why I did so._

_Before I go into why, I want to thank everyone for their support. Don. Darkama. Chris, Melodychii, Niluka Satharasinghe, Sackthananban Kounlavong, Tlavoc, Zeroharm, Megrisvernin, Miu, Chris, Raven Uzushi, A Person, Nex19, Paloswag, Cole Deucalion, Jacob A Bridgewater, ladiciusevol, Steelcondor, Anonymous, Perseus Red, Trashmage, Ryan, Axodique, Vladtheinhaler, PostLifeSyndrome, Juane Pendragon_and _Samuel Reed _as well as the Super Patrons _Melden V, Anders Kronquist, Ray Tony Song, Volkogluk, Aaron Bjornson, iolande, Martin Auguado, Julio, Hackerham, Tim Collins-Squire, Maben00, Ventari, PbookR, ChristobalAlvarez, Apperatus, EPiCJB19, Seeking Raven, Handwran, Russel Beatrous _and_Richard Whereat. Thank you all so much for your continued support, it helped me out a lot. Words cannot describe my gratitude toward you and my love to you._

_The reason it's gone is because, well, I've fallen below the bar. My writing schedule has fallen to pieces. I haven't updated weekly in months and I felt like I was letting everyone down. To say nothing about how I never wanted to make money off of my Fanfiction in the first place. I firmly believe that trying to profit off of my fanfiction did more damage to my writing than I will ever be able to quantify. I will never make this mistake again. If I want to monetize, it will be original fiction and I will do it by designing and selling shirts or something. That way the people who love the fic will be getting more than just a spot in the credits and I won't feel like I'm begging anymore._

_ Anyway, I hope this chapter was entertaining. It's a difficult time in the world right now and it was a terrible time to take a break...but I had too. Thanks all for your support._

_ Until the next time!_

_ ~Fulcon_


End file.
